Victoria Grandmothers for Africa
Last Sunday, I was invited to ride with the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa on the final leg of their 15th annual cycle tour. We met at Central Park and biked along the Vancouver Street bike corridor to Mile 0 where they had started four weeks ago.
Over a four week period, 65 women from greater Victoria as well as Campbell River, Duncan, Galiano Island, Ladysmith and Merville cycled a total of 28,144 km and raised $104,180 (and climbing) for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. The women range in age from 58 to 86 with a median age of 70. Individually they completed distances over the four weeks ranging from 143 km to 1133 km.
At the first international Grandmothers Gathering (held in Toronto in 2006), 200 Canadian grandmothers made a commitment to 100 African grandmothers and to the world: “We will not rest until they can rest.” Fifteen years later, thousands of grandmothers are more committed than ever to three shared goals: raise awareness, build solidarity, and raise funds for the local, community-based organizations that support African grandmothers and the children in their care. There are over 15 million orphans in Africa – children who have lost one or both parents to HIV & AIDS – and most are being raised by grandmothers.
According to the organizers, “the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa Cycle Tour … embodies solidarity. Cycling requires strength, endurance, confidence, balance, optimism and perseverance. African Grandmothers need all of these and more in order to carry out their work. The tour has raised over a million dollars for the Steven Lewis Foundation over 15 years.”
During the pandemic, the Victoria Grandmothers weren’t deterred and found creative ways to continue the cycle tour and continue to raise money, which is a good thing because support for the grandmothers in Africa is needed now more than ever. In African countries, there is limited access to vaccines and the goal of having enough doses available for 10% of the population by the end of September is unlikely to be met. This leaves African grandmothers and their grandchildren at risk and even more in need of help, support and love sent from their counterparts in Victoria.
This is the fifth year I’ve joined the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa at the end of their cycle tour (last year virtually). Each year I do, I’m moved to tears by their deep and heartfelt commitment to grandmothers on the other side of the world. It is unwavering and it’s an inspiration for all of us. As big as the world might seem, we can make it smaller by creating direct links to others – in this case grandmother to grandmother. We know when we do this, that however far apart we are and however different we might seem from each other, we are inextricably connected.
You can learn more about the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa and their work here.
Fourth Wave Fatigue
It has been a difficult past few weeks in our city, province, and country. Notwithstanding the inspiring story above about the grandmother connections, we’re more divided than ever. In part it’s because everyone is beyond tired – fatigued – as we plow through yet another wave of COVID-19. This division is not necessary. And it’s not inevitable.
Doctors, nurses, those working on the front lines in motels and shelters in our community where vulnerable residents live and where COVID-19 has hit with a vengeance. Police and bylaw officers, paramedics, public works and parks staff. Small business owners who can’t find enough staff or who are experiencing break ins and damages. Those living outside because the existing sheltering and housing available doesn’t meet their needs. Those trying to care for them. All these people and many more are exhausted and stretched really thin, maybe to a breaking point.
Because of this, it’s the most difficult wave of the pandemic yet. But we’re not going to get through it divided. Remember back to the first wave when we were banging pots and pans to support health care workers. When we were bringing groceries to seniors who couldn’t go out. When we raised $6 million as a community in a very short time for the Rapid Relief Fund to help out those in need. When we found all sorts of ways to stay connected even while we stayed apart. When there was a general and overwhelming feeling of goodwill, generosity and a sense that we were all in this together.
For those of us who want that feeling back, we can create it. Indeed I think there’s an imperative for us to do so if we’re going to make it through the fourth wave intact as humans and as a community. Here are some things that I’m trying to do that might also be useful to you:
- Get off and stay off social media
- Instead of looking at your phone while in a line up, strike up a conversation with the person behind you
- Give people with strong differences of opinion an opportunity to share their views without arguing back; give people the benefit of the doubt
- Notice if you have privilege and find ways to address it. (Below is an amazing video to help figure out where you stand)
- Find ways in daily life to do small, kind and unexpected things for others – both people you know and people you don’t
- When in doubt, be generous
