‘AfriGrand Caravan’ makes a stop at Progress Campus

Centennial's Progress Campus played host to the Stephen Lewis Foundation's AfriGrand Caravan tour on Sept. 22, when two guests from Africa came to the Residence and Conference Centre to recount their first-hand experiences while working to turn the tide of HIV/AIDS in their communities.

The speaking tour is a unique response to the outpouring of compassion shown by Canadians for the epidemic that is ravaging the continent's inhabitants. From September to November, the Stephen Lewis Foundation is traveling across Canada with African grandmothers and granddaughters orphaned by AIDS, stopping at 40 communities to tell their stories. In Toronto, the Caravan visited only two locales: Centennial College and the University of Toronto.

Centennial earned a stop on the tour in part because of the fundraising work of our Massage Therapy students, who organize a day of therapeutic massage each year for the public, who in turn donate their fees to the Foundation. Stephen Lewis is not traveling with the tour, but he did appear in a video message during the presentation to thank everyone who came out to listen, including 30 grandmothers from Scarborough who are involved in the good work of the foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.

The audience of about 250 college students, staff and guests heard grandmother Regina Mokgokong, Executive Director of Tateni Home Care Nursing Services, talk about the challenges of caring for orphans and educating Africans about the myths and realities of the devastating disease. She called the Stephen Lewis Foundation unique in recognizing the need for care centres that supported African grandmothers, who shouldered the greatest burden related to the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Granddaughter Nkulie Nowathe, 17, who lost her parents to the disease, shared her views with a rapt audience.

"Don't pity us because pity does nothing to change things for the better," Nkulie said. Young women are the most vulnerable in the context of HIV and AIDS. They are often the first to be pulled out of school to help care for dying mothers and raise families of orphaned siblings by feeding them and keeping them in school. The struggle for family survival leaves young women exposed to unwanted and unprotected sex as they live their adolescent years in the grips of rampant poverty, hunger and lack of adequate education.

Both she and Regina thank Canadians profusely for their continued support for African women who are trying to stem the human misery back home. African grandmothers have become the linchpin of survival for their families and communities, dealing with the devastation wrought by a quarter century of the pandemic. They bury their adult children and inherit the burden of care for their orphaned grandchildren. With the support of community-based organizations run for and by grandmothers, they hold their communities together.

The Canadian tour - modeled after caravans that bring special events to rural communities throughout Africa - continues this fall, with stops from St. John's to Victoria. The AfriGrand Caravan is supported by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union, CIBC, Aeroplan and Chrysler. For more information about how you can help, visit www.stephenlewisfoundation.org.