Women Empowered in Rwanda
When I told family and friends that Rwanda was on the itinerary for my visit to Stephen Lewis Foundation funded projects in Sub Saharan Africa, many expressed concern, wondering whether it was safe. For most of us, the gruesome pictures and stories of the genocide are our first thought when Rwanda is mentioned. I didn’t really know what to expect when our bus entered the Village of Hope, the Kigali center of the Rwanda Women Network (RWN). I was prepared to be serious and empathetic in the presence of women who had gone through severe trauma. Instead, we were greeted by exuberant song and...
Read MoreGrandmothers on Bicycles
28 grandmothers riding their bicycles from Campbell River to Victoria – 275 km in three days. What for? Good question … they do it for the grandmothers in Sub Saharan Africa who walk long distances as they look after their grandchildren who have been orphaned by AIDS. We bicycle; they walk. We have bicycles and cars, safe houses and government pensions; they don’t. Their struggle is not reported in the Canadian news media, unless there is a new horrible crisis like the kidnapping of schoolgirls in Nigeria or the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. And yet, there are over a...
Read MoreAfrican Grandmothers’ Voices
I sat , transfixed by her words: ‘Six years ago I was dead! I was sick with AIDS, abandoned by my family and afraid what would become of my grandchildren. And look at me now. I am alive; I am healthy; I can do anything! My grandchildren are going to school; they are no longer hungry; they are doing well. I work in the community garden and I teach sewing. I can do anything! I am not afraid of anything! And it is all thanks to the NLK organization and the Stephen Lewis Foundation.’ The woman was speaking in Amharic , and she had made eye contact with me. Subdued and a little shy at first in...
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