Rally Supports African Grandmothers

By Alexandra Paul, Winnipeg Free Press

September 7, 2008

Canada

Supporters of advocacy group "Grands 'n' More Winnipeg" hold a rally outside the legislature this afternoon to highlight the plight of African grandmothers who are struggling to raise their grandchildren after their children have died AIDS. 

Drums beat out deep African rhythms and elderly women in floppy hats and peasant skirts sang off-key about sub-Saharan grandmothers struggling to raise AIDS orphans. 

The rally at the Manitoba legislature today was one of many held from Halifax to Vancouver to mark Canadian Grandparents Day and to raise the profile of elderly, impoverished women grappling with a nightmare a world away.

About 70 people attended in Winnipeg, staying even after the skies opened up and it rained on the rally.

There are 13 million orphans whose parents are dead of AIDS in the sub-Sahara where households are led by children and elderly people.

In Africa, elderly women daily nurse their sons and daughters and bury them when they die. The streets are filled with elderly women begging for pennies feed and shelter a dozen or more kids at home.

"The plight of the grandmothers there has caught the hearts of grandmothers in Canada and we are trying to raise money for them from all across Canada," said rally co-sponsor Linda Watson with a Winnipeg group called Grands 'n' More. Justina Mullu of Kenya has 10 grandchildren. Seven live here with their mother, her daughter. She spoke at the rally about how lucky she is not to be the sole support for her grandchildren.

"But my neighbours are," she said, "and some of my relatives are, too."

Myrna Ronald's friends in Nairobi include grandmothers raising kids.

The Winnipeg woman is the wife of researcher Dr. Alan Ronald, whose decades in Kenya earned him the respect of AIDS researchers worldwide. 
"When I talk to these women, who are my friends, I feel like they are asking me to be their voice to you. Their message is: 'Don't forget us,'" Ronald told the crowd huddled under umbrellas in Winnipeg.

A loonie here can't buy coffee but it will pay a day in public school in Kenya. "Don't forget the power of a loonie," Ronald said.

Donations can be made through groups such as Grands 'n' More which work with the The Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Since March 2006, the foundation has raised over $4 million in aid. for 15 sub-Saharan African countries. The money is funnelled into food, housing grants, school fees for their grandchildren and grief counselling.

Stephen Lewis spent five years from 2001 to 2006 as UN's special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa. The foundation is his legacy to keep the work going.

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