West of the City, June 10, 2012. By Christina MacMillan
Stride to Turn the Tide
Saturday, June 9 and Sunday, June 10
8:30 a.m., rain or shine
St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School, 124 Dorval Drive, Oakville
We stride so she can turn the tide
On Saturday, June 9, members and friends of Halton’s five Grandmother groups will once again be walking in support of African grandmothers, who are caring for their grandchildren orphaned by the AIDS epidemic. As part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, we will walk in solidarity with thousands of other grandmothers and “grandothers” across Canada.
This year the Halton Team, comprised of group members from Blooms for Africa, Bronte Grandmothers, North Halton, Oomama and Ubuntu Grandwomen, will be walking in Oakville along Lakeshore Road, beginning at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School, on Dorval Drive, at 8:30 a.m., rain or shine.
The inaugural National “Stride to Turn the Tide” walk, in 2010, raised nearly $400,000 benefitting grassroots organizations funded by the Stephen Lewis Foundation in sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 14.8 million children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
The programs these organizations have developed at community-level recognize the needs of African grandmothers and offer support in forms such as nutritious food, housing, grief counselling and school fees for their orphaned grandchildren. To date, funds raised in Halton total $131,000.
“So many grandmothers who once struggled to keep grief and despair at bay, and to provide for their families of children, have now been lifted up by grassroots organisations,” wrote Ilana Lewis, the Executive Director of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, in a letter to the Canadian Grandmothers recently.
She continued: “They are organizing programmes and reaching new communities, running projects themselves, and have become experts in home-based care and nutrition for those who are HIV positive. They are holding firm like a tree in a storm.”
This year the slogan of the National Walk is “We Stride so that she can turn the tide.”
For more information visit:
Stride to Turn the Tide
Grandmothers to Grandmothers
Oomama
You can walk with the Halton Team or sponsor someone who is walking. To register, contact Lorraine Green at lorrainegreen@bell.net.
Or you can donate online at www.stridetoturnthetide.ca. Tax receipts are automatic for donations of $20+.
About the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign
The Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign was launched, in March 2006, to support African grandmothers who have stepped in to care for their orphaned grandchildren. Since the launch, over 250 groups across Canada – more than 8,000 grandmothers – have answered the call to action raising funds, awareness and support for African grandmothers and children. The Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign supports African grandmothers by raising funds to meet the immediate and long-term needs of African grandmothers and the children in their care; building solidarity amongst and between African and Canadian grandmothers; and stimulating action in Canada at the national level in order to amplify the voices and expertise of the African grandmothers in addressing the AIDS pandemic. The Grandmothers Campaign has raised more than $13.5 million to date.