Looking Into the Faces of Unsung S/heroes

On the walls of the second floor of Daniels Spectrum in the Regent Park neighbourhood of Toronto are the beautiful faces of African grandmothers who have lost their children to AIDS and are now raising their grandchildren.  As part of the Scotiabank CONTACT  Photography Festival, the Stephen Lewis Foundation  (SLF) is hosting this exhibit called Unsung S/heroes.  Self-taught photographer Alexis MacDonald who is also SLF’s Director of External Relations has captured candid moments and portraits in natural light of some of these amazing women.  

One of the photographs from the exhibit

As I walked the halls I could see a whole range of emotions on their faces.  On the walls painted blue you could see the shared grief of grandchild and grandmother, sadness, fear, fatigue and worry for the future.  On the yellow walls were faces that expressed joy, love, fierce determination, the power of community, courage, tenderness, resilience and strength.  In between the pictures were quotes from some of the women:

“Tell me, who has to be stronger on the planet than an African woman?  So if you make it to be an older African woman, you must be the strongest of all.”

Mama Zodwa Ndlovu, South Africa

“All my children died.  Now when I go out to the field to work, I go with a baby on the back, a baby in one arm and a hoe in the other arm.”

Grandmother Evelyn of Reach One Touch One, Uganda

The Stephen Lewis Foundation builds relationships of mutual respect and trust with African community-based organizations.  SLF provides direct support to the local grassroots groups that have the expertise to work with these grandmothers, their grandchildren, people living with HIV/AIDS  and women.  Since 2003, SLF has partnered with over 300 grassroots African groups with more than 1100 initiatives in the 15 African countries that have been the most affected by the AIDS pandemic.

African grandmothers have stepped up to become parents to their orphaned grandchildren, helping them through the grief of losing their parents and sending them to school while harvesting crops, creating local savings and loan groups, educating others about HIV prevention and treatment, as well as coming up with innovative ways of generating income.  They have formed support groups and are also lobbying governments for better social services due to their added responsibilities.

In 2006, SLF began the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign that linked Canadian grandmothers to African grandmothers.  These Canadian groups are still in existence over ten years later.  Their three goals are to raise funds to meet the needs of African grandmothers and the children they care for; to raise awareness about the expertise and leadership of Africa`s grandmothers; and to build solidarity between grandmothers to sustain the changes that need to take place to turn the tide of AIDS in Africa.

In October of 2015, 500 African grandmothers from every region of Uganda met at the First National Grandmothers Gathering.  “Together they expressed their grief, outrage, resilience and hope for the future. (Grassroots, Fall 2015, SLF)  They formulated their demands and wrote a powerful call to action: the  Ugandan Grandmothers` Statement.

Here is a quote from their Statement:

We have done our part.  We care for the sick, we work the land, we hold our collective memory, and fueled by our love we raise the next generations, provide food, schooling, homes and security.

For far too long we have not been counted, we have not been valued, we have been made invisible.  It is time for our contributions to be recognized and our rights to be protected.

The power of these grandmothers comes through in the photo exhibit. Alexis MacDonald has taken them from invisible to visible.  One picture of a grandmother spinning cotton is accompanied by this quote from the spinner:

“I am a cotton spinner.  When I spin my thread I sing my hymns of sadness.  I sing the loss of my sons and daughters into my cotton.  I sing my sorrows into the balls of thread as they spin onto the spool.  I sing and spin away my tragedies.  This is how I go on.”

Grandmother Nigatea, Ethopia, Developing the Family Together

You can learn more about Grandmothers to Grandmothers groups on the SLF website.  The local group where I live is called Grandmothers and Grandothers so that anyone can feel welcome to join.  So far, according to the SLF website, Canadians have raised $24 million for the Grandmothers Campaign.  If you want to see Canadian grandmothers doing flash mobs to raise awareness across Canada last year just click here.  Older women making themselves and their African friends visible.  We are surrounded by Unsung S/heroes and their allies and you just might just be inspired to join them!