February 2009
Dear Power of Love Friend:
Happy Valentine’s Day! Let’s talk about Grandmothers and the power of love.
Those of you who’ve been following the story of the AIDS pandemic know that in Africa over 13 million children have been orphaned by this crisis. Over half of these children now live in homes headed by grandmothers. After a lifetime of work and toil, these wonderful grandmothers have been called back into service – first to bury their children who have died of AIDS and then to care for a half dozen or more grandchildren. These grandmothers are the guardians of hope in Africa.
The reality is, these grandmothers themselves need care and support. Many are unwell, most have no source of income and all are overwhelmed with the burden of feeding and clothing a home full of grandkids. Yet, the only sustainable hope to tackle the orphan situation is to ensure these grandmothers succeed.
Called into action by this situation, a few grandmothers in Columbus, Indiana recently formed a club called the “the Granny Connection” to support the grandmothers in Africa. Their goal – raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, build solidarity to fight HIV/AIDS, and raise funds for micro loans, food, clothing, medicines for Grannies in Zambia. Their membership growing, they have already held awareness events and a recent fundraiser collected over $1600. This money will be used to support grandmothers in the Power of Love project in Lusaka, Zambia. As one of the grannies in Columbus said, “it is inspiring to hear the stories of the brave grandmothers in Africa and rewarding to be able to do something for them”.
The Granny Connection will be implementing other innovative ideas to support their peers in Africa. If you wish to contact them or support their efforts, please reach out to Ann Jones.
We can conquer the AIDS pandemic now. Never doubt that. We are working hard to raise funds for our 2009 programs. Please keep Power of Love in mind as you make your charitable contributions.
Zikomo Kwambiri
The Power of Love team
