In partnership with Paisley Boutique, Cochrane Grandmothers to Grandmothers are presenting this fundraising event at the All Saints Anglican Church at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 17. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.00 or $20.00 at the door.
The event is sponsored by the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF). Grandmothers to Grandmothers help support more than 14 million orphans in sub Saharan Africa who have lost parents to the crisis. The Cochrane chapter has taken a name from the Swahili language, Kujali Bibi, meaning caring grandmothers.
Tragically a whole generation, consisting of millions of parents, has been decimated. This has resulted in leaving the care, love, education and parenting of these children in the hands of grandmothers. Many of these grandmothers are already living in dire poverty and/or have AIDS themselves. The SLF has been asserted that if a critical mass of community-based organizations could receive adequate funding, they would turn the tide of HIV & AIDS in Africa.
What started out with a few groups of Canadian grandmothers reaching out to support these African grandmothers, has evolved into a movement which now includes groups in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.
Since 2006 more than $33 million has been raised to support the African grandmothers who are changing the course of the crisis. They put their grandchildren through school, harvest crops, create local saving and loan groups and participate in income generating programs while delivering comfort and hope through home-based care.
The local group in Cochrane was established years ago and contributes annually to the Grandmothers to Grandmothers in Africa. Funds are used to not only deliver life-saving medications and health care, but to also deliver programs that offer hope, dignity and possibilities to individuals and their communities.
New members are welcome. For more information contact Letty Pollock at 587-777-5441 or email www.stephenlewisfoundation.org.
Submitted by Suzanne Lorinczi
