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18 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 16, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone: 905-845-3824, ext. 248 Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: angela@oakvillebeaver.com DEREK WOOLLAM / OAKVILLE BEAVER OO THOSE GRANNIES: Grandmothers to Grandmothers members, from left, Sue Cousineau, Joan Turner, Norine Baron, Carole Holmes and Paulette Pelletier-Kelly pose for a photo before making a presentation at a regional conference Saturday afternoon at St. Mildred's-Lightborn School. Grannies giving power to grandmas in Africa By Paloma Migone SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER G randmothers have a lot of love to give, so it's not surprising when grannies reach-out across the Atlantic Ocean to bestow their affections to African grandmothers in need. In February, 12 grandmothers from across Canada traveled to Uganda, South Africa and Swaziland to help grandmothers looking after their orphaned grandchildren. On Saturday, five of the 12 grandmothers discussed their mission to Africa with 130 other women attending a Grandmother to Grandmother conference at St. Mildred'sLightbourn School. The five women Norine Baron, Sue Cousineau, Paulette Pelletier-Kelly, Joan Turner and Carole Holmes are members of the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF)'s Grandmother to Grandmother campaign, which receives the support of 5,000 grannies from 200 groups across Canada. The campaign was launched in March 2006, on the eve of International Women's Day, to help raise awareness and give support to African grandmothers who are looking after their grandchildren as a result of the AIDS epidemic. The 12 grandmothers visited several SLF projects in Africa and witnessed the living conditions of grandmother-headed households, where limited access to necessary resources "We saw pain and suffering alongside strength and hope. We are grandmothers, not experts, and we are here to share our experiences." Carole Holmes, oomama founder and poor health care cripples their nurturing abilities. "One of the things we said was, we will come back and amplify their voices. We will come back and tell their stories. We will hold their hope in our hands because if they are hopeful, we have to be hopeful...we're so blessed with so much and we can do so much more," said Holmes, a former Oakville resident and founder of oomama, the local grandmother group. The five Ontarian grandmothers began relating their African experiences to the women at the conference by showing both the hardships grandmothers face and the hope they demonstrate. "We saw pain and suffering alongside strength and hope," said Holmes during the conference. "We are grandmothers, not experts, and we are here to share our experiences, to tell some of the stories... and to show you that the SLF grassroots projects are making a difference." Turner, from Unitarian GoGos of Ottawa, talked about some of the 13 million orphans in Africa and their grandmoth- ers in Uganda under the care of Kitovu Mobile AIDS Organization, which cares for the vulnerable people in the Masaka District. Turner told the story of her journey to an "unknown destination," where she was welcomed by singing grandmothers, who held a sign that read, "Our dear visitors from Canada, you are most welcomed." Her presentation was later given in tears, when she told the audience of a boy who had lost his parents to AIDS, but quickly switched to a hopeful tone when talking about positive change in the region. Pelletier-Kelly, from Grannies in Spirit, followed Turner with the story of a grandmother from See Women page 19