Dear Friends and Family,
When the AIDS pandemic took the lives of over 35 million people across the African continent, grandmothers stepped in to raise a generation who’d lost their parents to AIDS-related illnesses. For 15 years, funds raised by the Grandmothers Campaign have directly supported the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s community-based partner organizations. They are expertly providing grandmothers in sub-Saharan Africa with holistic care – including support groups, grief counselling, access to healthcare, income-generating projects, counselling for the children in their care, help to send their grandchildren to school, and so much more.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have economic, health, and psychosocial impacts on the communities where the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s partner organizations are working. These organizations have the established networks of care and trust needed to reach their community members and are best placed to protect and support the most vulnerable populations. They have adapted their programs and innovated ways to continue to safely provide essential services, and responded to additional needs that have emerged due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges and uncertainties to communities, one thing we know for sure is that grandmothers supported by community-based organizations have become leaders in their communities. They are networking and mobilizing to call for national policies that would widen the scope of support for grandmothers and elderly people within their countries. In 2021, as we mark the 15 year anniversary of the Grandmothers Campaign, it is an exciting moment, and a powerful reason to commit to supporting this grandmothers’ movement. I would be deeply grateful for your gift of any size – every dollar matters!
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Terry and Peter
