The Granny Bulletin is a regular email update on the SLF Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, intended to keep grandmother groups across Canada informed about, and connected to each other and the grandmothers and grassroots projects in Africa that are supported through their dedicated fundraising and awareness-raising efforts.

In this Special Edition of the Granny Bulletin… 

1.  Coming Soon: Special Message from Stephen Lewis

2.  Update on Grandmothers Gathering in Swaziland

3.  A Visit to Swaziland Positive Living Organization

1.  Coming Soon: Special Message from Stephen Lewis

Welcome to a special edition of the Granny Bulletin!

On Thursday December 11th, we sent a package to the main contact of every grandmothers’ group containing a letter from Ilana and packages of Turning the Tide postcards – to be shared among group members.  We also included a request for the mailing and email addresses of each group member because early in the New Year, we will be sending a special video message from Stephen to members of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.  And of course – we need your addresses to do it!  Ask the primary contact for your group if they’ve sent in their membership and contact list – or contact Helen directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   to make sure we have your contact information. 

You should know that we have secured funds from a special donor for this upcoming mailing.  These are funds that we must use here in Canada, so no funds are being redirected from the critical work of the projects on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa.

As a quick reminder, donations must be post-marked by December 31st, 2008 in order to receive a 2008 tax receipt.  Thank you!

With warmest regards and best wishes for the holidays,

Ilana, Julie, Helen, Janis, Kaitlin, Mary Anna and Hannah

2.  Update on Grandmothers Gathering in Swaziland

We expected to bring you many more details of the planned African Grandmothers Gathering in Swaziland and how you can apply to attend in this Special Granny Bulletin.  However, due to the current financial climate it is not clear whether or not the Gathering will take place in March 2009 or in the Fall of 2009.  We are certain the Gathering will happen though, so we are going ahead with the application process.

Before the end of December, we will be posting application forms on the Grandmothers Campaign website at: www.grandmotherscampaign.org.  As of January 5th, you can also email Julie at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   for an electronic copy of the application form.

We want to encourage you to apply if you are interested in attending, even if you know you cannot attend in March, but could in the Fall or you know you can attend in the Fall, but not in March.  If you are selected but the trip falls in a time period when you cannot attend, you can simply decline the selection.  As soon as we have more information, we’ll send it out in another Special Granny Bulletin.

As a reminder, here are the broad parameters for the trip:

• Registration of Canadian grandmothers must occur through the Stephen Lewis Foundation;
• The SLF will provide an orientation prior to departure, along with information on costs, accommodation, Swaziland and travel tips;
• If travellers have the appropriate number of Aeroplan miles donated to SLF (approximately 115,000 to 150,000 round trip from Canada), the SLF can book flights on your behalf;
• The trip should be self-funded – grandmothers are not expected to raise funds through their grandmothers’ group; 
• Funds should not be directed through the Stephen Lewis Foundation;
• Each applicant will have to be nominated by their group and complete an application, which will be reviewed by a selection committee comprised of SLF staff and grandmothers active in the Campaign.

Thank you and good luck!

3.  A Visit to Swaziland Positive Living Organization

Hannah Diamond is a staff member at the Stephen Lewis Foundation and member of the Greater Van Gogos.  She is the Western Canadian Advisor to the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.

During a trip to Southern Africa last month, I had the privilege of visiting SWAPOL, Swaziland Positive Living, a multi-faceted organization whose staff tend to rural income generating projects, support orphaned children and fight a constant battle for the rights of women and children. Swaziland has the highest percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa which puts an extra burden on grandmothers and on the non-government groups working with women and girls.

Siphiwe Hhlope, SWAPOL’s executive director, a powerhouse of knowledge, ideas and energy, welcomed me to her office in downtown Manzini. “You can’t address HIV/AIDS without addressing poverty and human rights,” she says, rattling off some startling facts: “The police that are supposed to protect us have no policies for women’s protection. The Children’s Protection Policy is still in draft – for seven years. The Sexual Offences Bill – six years – no legislation.” SWAPOL raised the issue of marital rape which caused huge furor in Parliament, she adds. “Legislators said they wouldn’t even debate it.”

SWAPOL continues to raise issues such as the need for halfway houses for victims of domestic abuse and access to female condoms and supports several rural economic empowerment projects for grandmothers.

Taking a highway, a gravel road, a dirt road and then no road, we reached the Ngumane Communal Garden and Support Group for people living with HIV/AIDS about an hour and a half from the city. Five years ago, SWAPOL hired a tractor to clear the land and paid for seedlings and a few tools. Today, the gardens produce organic cabbage, beets, potatoes and corn to supplement diets for a community of more than 100, 63 of them children. Women in this group have been trained as peer counsellors and the community is building a two-room structure to serve as a storage and meeting room. The day of our visit, young men poured cement for a ramp and harvested cabbages, while grandmothers pulled weeds and children played in the fields.

The community garden orders seedlings from the Sboru Seedling Production and Support Group, a second project, which employs 40 people, supplying orders to farms in the surrounding area.

There are no orphanages in Swaziland. “We don’t encourage them,” explains SWAPOL staff member Tsabile, as we approach the third project. The goal is to keep orphaned children healthy in their own homes and going to school. Thulisile, a grandmother who also raises children from her own extended family, leads the project with support from other area grandmothers. Several of them attended the Toronto Grandmothers Gathering which they remember fondly. But they have little time to talk this Sunday, because close to 85 children are waiting for a meal of rice and beans. All of their parents are dead. Some have grandmothers who may get extra food, but most don’t. Women serve from two huge cast iron cauldrons in the yard and in a hut nearby, other grandmothers proudly show the school uniforms and housedresses they produce on two ancient Singer sewing machines, an operation Tsabile says, “was started from the very first visit by Stephen (Lewis).” 

Coincidentally, Stephen was in Swaziland the same time as I, and was taken to visit a child-headed household. When he asked 10 year-old Thembeka if there was anything he could do for her, she broke down in tears. It turned out she had an exam the next week and had no pen. “Imagine,” says Siphiwe, a grandmother herself. “A pen costs .25 cents US. Everyone can have a pen. My children could say, ‘Ma, I need a pen. Ma, I need an exercise book. Ma, I’m hungry.’ But these children are afraid to ask .”

Despite their struggles, the children looked remarkably well - healthy and neatly dressed. Most are in school. I was struck by the tenderness they showed each other. Girls with toddlers on their backs; older children gently washing faces and hands of younger ones. They are so much more responsible than they should have to be. In the middle of all the activity, a boy, about four, danced to the radio in the background, a crooked smile on his face and a gleam in his eyes. This is hope.

One of the biggest challenges is to break the cycle of poverty combined with the astronomical impact of HIV/AIDS. How best can organizations like SWAPOL intervene? Government resources are scarce, communities need access to clean water, electricity and education. Development work proceeds at a snail’s pace. Sugar cane factories thrive on one side of the road while on the other, people live without water.

If the measure of success for a project in Swaziland is to feed 85 orphans one meal a day, then we Canadians must work harder. By a fluke of geography grandmothers are raising millions of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa, and we are here, where for the most part, our children are alive and our grandchildren are healthy, well fed and face futures overflowing with opportunity.

As we head into the holiday season, let’s remember why we joined the Grandmothers’ Campaign. The grandmothers in Africa need us more than ever. In our house, we’ll be separating needs from desires, spending less, and giving more.  I hope you’ll consider doing the same.

Hannah Diamond

You can read more about Siphiwe and SWAPOL on pages 7 and 8 of the Winter 2008 Grassroots newsletter.

SWAPOL is one of over 300 community-based projects that the SLF has funded since 2003.