Snapshot in Africa
Her old black thumb
closed over the photo
covered their chubby pink cheeks
— they’d laughed and laughed when I snapped it –
she never looked at them
no interest in them
Too many children tugged at her skirts
needing food needing clothes needing love needing
Her finger rested on Helen’s face
Your daughter?
Ah, she said, I had nine, she said
but now
only one
I tucked her pain into my purse
with my own
and dumb
I held her hand
Tateni, Pretoria, South Africa
African Grandmothers Siphiwe Hlophe and Mama Darlina come to Hamilton!
Siphiwe Hlophe, executive director of SWAPOL and the power behind the first ever African Grandmothers Gathering delighted members of Grandmothers of Steel by coming to Hamilton for a day of interviews with the media at my farm and at Baranga’s on the Beach. She brought with her Mama Darlina from Cape Town, with her unforgettable way of making the whole group break out into song, and Joanna Henry from the SLF, coordinator of the grandmothers campaign.
After doing interviews through the day, these two powerful speakers came to our pot luck supper and inspired us with messages from the heart. We’ll long remember their visit and keep the memory of their presence alive through all our future work.
Freelton, May 22, 2010
an article for the Spectator
I’m still reeling from my two week trip to Swaziland and South Africa with the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. I was expecting to hear some heartbreaking stories and to recognise the courage these grandmothers show. But I wasn’t expecting the depth of the need, or the sheer inventiveness these women display in order to hold their families together.
The grandmothers I met came together in Swaziland from May 6 to 9, 2010 at the invitation of Siphiwe Hlope of SWAPOL — Swaziland Positive Living. The 500-strong group came from 13 African countries to take part in the first ever Grandmothers Gathering held on African soil, and were joined by 42 of us — Canadian grandmothers who raise funds and awareness for our African sisters. They shared stories of desperate need and devastation as a result of poverty and the ravages of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Miraculously, they also shared stories of inventive ideas, community building, and income-generating projects that in community after community, country after country, are turning loss and despair into reconstruction and support.
Ann from the WEMIHS project in Kenya shocked and then delighted me with her story of how she counselled suicidal grandmothers. In the year before she was hired, she said, 12 grandmothers, in despair at the deaths of their children, sat on the graves of their children to wait for death. “If you dare die on me,” she threatened her therapy group with a laugh, “I will come to your funeral, take you out of your coffin, and beat you back to life. And if you want to die again, you’ll have to get my permission first. You can’t die — your grandchildren need you.” As she spoke, her face sparkled with the liveliest energy and good humour; I could just imagine her chasing despair from those women.
Only two grandmothers died that year, and the others went on to become leaders of other grandmother groups, reaching out further into the community. They are now sharing ways to make money and to deal with rebellious teenagers. “First you stop them dying, then you help them find a reason to live; once they’re on their feet again, they’ll develop amongst themselves a means to live better,” said Ann.
On May 7th, we went to workshops to learn from each other such innovative ideas as Table Banking. Once a month, a group of 10 – 12 grandmothers put about two dollars into the pot, which is split between two grandmothers for their income generating project that month. They must repay the borrowed amount with agreed interest. If they do, all is well, and another two grandmothers share the new larger pot. If not, then all the others put in extra for the one who defaults; as close neighbours, they know well what problems she may have faced. “But,” asked one cautious grandmother, “What if I hoe, but my neighbour doesn’t?” The workshop leader smiled. “Then, my friend, you all DISCUSS what to do with her.” The laughter around the room left no doubt that it would be better to have the bank foreclose on you than to be DISCUSSED by your friends.
One day in South Africa sticks out in my memory, when we went to Pretoria to visit Tateni, a project supported by the Stephen Lewis Foundation. As I walked into St Francis church hall, the waiting African grandmothers burst into song, so rich and full of harmony that it felt like a physical wave wrapping around me. What a welcome! One grandmother pointed to a photo of my two grandsons with my daughter Helen and said, “Your daughter? Ah, still alive. Not mine.” She told me she had lost eight of her nine children, most to AIDS. The African grandmothers repeatedly thanked us for coming, but we were the ones who felt an immense gratitude to them for welcoming us so warmly and for teaching us about courage and perseverance in the face of overwhelming loss.
On the Grandmothers March, as I marched through the streets of Manzini, Swaziland with up to 2,000 African grandmothers and supporters chanting songs of power and solidarity, I felt a growing conviction in my heart: African grandmothers are the backbone of their communities, and they have the power to turn the tide of AIDS in Africa. Their clarion call to the international community goes out in the Manzini Statement: “True sustainability is in the hands of grandmothers and other community activists. Africa cannot survive without us. We call on you to deliver on your promises.”
Lisbie Rae is a member of Grandmothers of Steel, part of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, supporting the work of the Stephen Lewis Foundation in over 300 projects in sub-Saharan Africa. On June 12, 2010, she will join grandmothers across the country as they walk between them the distance across Canada in a National Walk. The Hamilton walk starts at Hutch’s at Van Wagner’s Beach at 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Support African grandmothers by sponsoring Lisbie Rae or another walker at www.grandmotherscampaign.org/nationalwalk.html
Other useful links
www.stephenlewisfoundation.org
Zainab, a grandmother delegate from Kenya, with the TAPWAK project — The Association of People With AIDS in Kenya. She spoke eloquently of the need for protection of property rights for grandmothers so that relatives cannot lay claim to the homes where they are raising orphaned grandchildren. She went with me to the SWAPOL offices in Manzini to do a telephone interview with the BBC in London.
Elora, Ontario, Monday May 17 2010
Hot on the heels of my visit to Africa, I was delighted to hear of a meeting between MP Michael Chong and a passionate and eloquent group of grandmothers in Elora Legion on Monday. Organised by Grandmothers of the Grand, who support the work of African grandmothers through the Stephen Lewis Foundation, the question and answer session had one single purpose – to encourage Mr Chong, as chair of the committee on Industry, Trade and Commerce, to speed progress of Bill C-393 through committee and back to parliament for approval with minimum delay. This crucial piece of legislation, the Canadian Access to Medicines Regime, or CAMR for short, will release lifesaving generic anti-retroviral drugs for delivery to Africa.
Sharon Ogden laid out the ground rules for the group of 68 grandmothers and grandothers, noting how urgent it is that the bill be passed with no significant changes. She drew the connection between CAMR and Prime Minister Harper’s new focus on maternal and child health, pointing out that the leading cause of death in women of reproductive age in Africa is HIV/AIDS. Before passing to Mr Chong, she fired off a battery of questions: how much time will the committee take? How will speakers be selected? Will Grandmothers be invited to speak? How will the revised Bill be presented to parliament?
Laughing at the challenge ahead of him, Mr Chong assured the crowd that the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign would certainly be invited to present their point of view, as would NGOs, pharmaceutical and generic drug companies. Many voiced concerns that pharmaceutical companies still claim that the Bill infringes WTO trade rules, when lawyers unequivocally agree it conforms in every way. To these and other similar questions, Mr. Chong replied, “If you want the Bill to succeed, you must address the concerns of the pharmaceutical industry, and not simply attack them.”
Eventually, Ms Ogden stepped in. “Mr. Chong,” she said in a clear calm voice, “we elected you to represent us in this riding. As Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce, why do YOU not step in, discuss the issue with the pharmaceuticals and unmask their lies?” Promising that his committee will listen to all sides, Mr. Chong agreed that as a Canadian he feels a moral responsibility, but that the process takes time.
“We are dithering as people are dying,” lamented one grandmother. My contribution was to show Mr. Chong a photo of a grandmother I had met in South Africa, who had lost her children to HIV/AIDS. “Take this grandmother with you to committee,” I asked, “and remember the face of the struggle against AIDS – a struggle we can so easily help by passing Bill C-393.”
In the midst of the March, with a poster protesting only one of the many, many problems that grandmothers are combatting in their communities.
The entrance to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.
We spent four hours in here today, not nearly long enough to take in all the years of oppression, discrimination and violence through which South Africa has struggled. There’s a special section on Nelson Mandela, even more charismatic and extraordinary when his speeches and actions and fearless honesty and integrity are laid out in thematic units.
What a leader!
Lisbie
“I found that to march with one’s people was exhilarating and inspiring.” — Nelson Mandela at the time of the bus boycott in 1943
“Man can adapt to the worst conditions if he feels he is not alone; if he feels he has support in what he is doing” — Mat Mahany, who was in prison with Nelson Mandela
“When the Europeans came, they had the Bible and we had the land. Now we have the Bible and they have our land” — Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg