Welcome

Grannies Aid for Africa was formed because we were horrified by the situation in Africa. We were inspired by Beth Gray, one of our founding members, who volunteered as a nurse in Tanzania for several months.

We are very fortunate indeed! While most of us are free to love and enjoy our grandchildren without taking full responsibility for the necessities of their lives and their emotional well being, grandmothers in Africa have a very different experience.

There are currently close to 20 million orphans in Africa. Many of them are being cared for by grandmothers who themselves are living in poverty and are grief stricken at the loss of their own children. Some of the grandmothers are HIV positive due to ignorance of safe procedures during the care of their dying relatives and some of the children were born HIV positive since the drugs that can prevent transmission at birth are not universally available. Most of these families have very limited income and even one meal a day is sometimes not realistic. School costs for fees, supplies and uniforms are out of the question for most of them and thus many children cannot even attend elementary school.

As a group we have undertaken activities that raise money to help these grandmothers and the children as well as activities that inform the community of their plight. We are not a large group (about 15 women, mostly but not all grandmothers) and we always welcome new members. If you would like to join us in any capacity, you are most welcome. If you would like information about starting your own group, we would be happy to share our experiences. There is also a wealth of information on the Grandmother’s Campaign website www.grandmotherscampaign.org.

We would be happy to hear from you if you have any questions or comments about our group or our activities.