44 FOCUS - OCTOBER 2018 UGANDA AND TANZANIA Earlier this year I was one of 11 grandmothers to travel with the SLF to visit Uganda and Tanzania. Our visit to Uganda consisted of visiting two CBO’s, one of them being Reach Out Mbuya in Kampala and the other one MYIMBWA in Kalule. We visited with a grandmother group in Acholi Quarters which was originally a refugee camp built on a hill at the outskirts of Kampala. It is now a neighbour- hood where between 5,000 and 10,000 people live with- out any basic services. We met one of the grandmothers with her 17-year-old grandson who told us how with the support of Mbuya she was able to send him to school. He told us that he is now studying to become a mechanic. The grandmother was so proud of him and so happy. We visited MYIMBWA and met with some high school girls; with three women who have started a restaurant and another trio, which has started a mobile bakery. All are supported by MYIMBWA and are hope- ful about their future. In Arusha, Tanzania we attended the first national Grandmothers Gathering. The theme of the Gathering was BIBIS NI NGUZO, which in Swahili means “Grandmothers Are Pillars.” Over 200 Tanzanian grandmothers arrived at the hotel to share, support and learn from each other. For the first two days the grandmothers attended several workshops. Our job as international grandmothers was to take notes with the help of a translator and to observe. There were many workshops from which the grand- mothers could choose – all of them important issues in their lives. I attended “Stigma” where the message was “bring it out in the open” and “we are not victims, we are simply HIV positive!” The women were passionate about this issue. Another that I attended was the “Community- based Safety Nets for Orphans and Vulnerable Children”. One grandmother told us that the village in which she lives is small and there are many orphans. There are no community resources to help the orphans who end up on the streets and become isolated from the community. The need for local government to provide financial support to guardians of the children was discussed. In the workshop on “Vocational Training” I learned that vocational training is very important for the grandmothers. Without a job, they Eke meeting high school girls. • Eke Van der Zee • BLUNDSTONE.CA BLUNDSTONE.CA All you need. 168 Queen Street, Port Perry, ON 905-985-2521 • www.brocks.ca