Africa's unsung heros: grandmothers survive HIV/AIDS pandemic, outlast younger generations

Catholic New Times, April 9, 2006 by Kevin Spurgaitis

Often overlooked in their society, often with meager resources, they bury their sons and daughters before raising their orphan grandchildren. However, grandmothers may soon receive a helping hand in AIDS-plagued Sub-Saharan Africa.

On March 8, the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) launched its "Grandmothers to Grandmothers" campaign supporting Africa's senior caregivers. SLF is raising awareness about the plight of Africa's women, and building solidarity between African and Canadian grandmothers in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Besieged by poverty, hunger and desolation, grandmothers almost single-handedly care for millions of children orphaned by AIDS--sometimes as many as 10 to 15 in one household--according to the foundation.

"Grandmothers have emerged as the unrecognized heroes of Africa," said SLF Chair Stephen Lewis, who is also the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. "These magnificently courageous women call on astonishing reserves of love and emotional resilience."

The overwhelming number of orphans and vulnerable children in the region is "symptomatic of accelerated death rates across the continent," Lewis said. He maintained they are always relegated to the bottom rung in the ladder of international response. Their grandmothers have stepped into the breach, emerging as a "central force of the continent." However, they remain impoverished and driven over the edge by the additional mouths to feed.

"There is not a sufficient recognition of the way in which the grandmothers are sustaining the orphans and communities ... Burdened by the AIDS pandemic, Africa's grandmothers live an intense daily struggle for survival. They commit their frail and elderly lives--what is left of their lives--completely to the needs of the orphans."

Funding more than 35 community-based projects in 14 countries, SLF assists women, orphans, grandmothers and people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. It ensures they receive disinfectant, gloves, soap, clothing, sleeping mats and nutritious food, as well as drugs for opportunistic infections. It trains neighbours, relatives and older women in home and hospital care, and educates the broader community on disease awareness and prevention. Additionally, the foundation helps guardians pay for orphan's school fees, supplies and feeding programmes.

More and more women are contracting HIV/AIDS, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. During the final stages of their illness, many return home to be cared for by their parents. They also bring their children, who remain with their grandparents after they die. According to UNICEF, UNAIDS and USAID statistics, more than 14 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have been orphaned largely due to the virus. The figure is expected to reach 18 million by 2010. HelpAge International reports that more than 50 per cent of them are sheltered in "grandparent-headed households" in Botswana and Malawi, while more than 60 per cent live in Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Still, associations of people living with HIV/AIDS are busy making sure matriarchs are free from "pain, humiliation and indignity." One such group is the Gogo Grannies Outreach Project in Johannesburg. The South African organization so far bolsters 30 senior caregivers, who have been recalled from retirement to raise a second generation with scant resources. Along with seeds and fertilizers for gardens, they are given one-time building grants to improve their homes. The Gogos, which means "grandmothers" in Zulu, also travel twice yearly to lead workshops throughout the region, where the 'circle of life' has been turned on its head.

Traditionally, children were expected to look after their aging parents. That has all changed in Sub-Saharan countries, where grandmothers are now more likely to bury their own children, according to Rose Letwaba, a nurse and founder of the Gogo Grannies.

"Whether we like it or not, we have to approach these grandmothers. And we have to prove without a doubt, that with support, we can improve their lives.

"Culturally, people believe that if you are a grandmother, you can deal or cope, but we are saying, 'no,' grandmothers are human. They have their own challenges. They have to attend school meetings, wake up in the morning and prepare breakfast and do laundry, while battling arthritis."

She continued. "These grandmothers don't have much knowledge of HIV/ AIDS. Irrespective of how you explain it to them, it doesn't make sense to them."

Lucia Mazibuko, a 52-year-old grandmother from Alexandra Township in South Africa, lost her only two daughters to HIV/AIDS before rearing her daughters' two HIV-positive children. Uninformed about the disease and unable to afford anti-retroviral drugs, she then lost her nine-year-old grandson four years later, in 2004. Today, she lives in a two-room home with her remaining grandchild, who is still ailing.

A member of the Gogo Grannies, Mazibuko explained how she now provides bereavement counseling to other women. "I'm trying to talk to others about what I've learned and experienced as a person ... It's been hard to be a grandmother and mother, helping kids to grow and feeding them. In my community, it's also difficult talking about HIV/AIDS, because when you start talking about it, people think you're a bad mother. We're dealing with something we can't even explain."