The Gathering Begins . . .

November 30, 2015

Yes, there has been another long delay.  I'm really sorry.  I actually had written this blog a couple of weeks ago, and something happened to it, and it went poof!  I'm sure this has happened to some of you, and it certainly is a downer--I knew I could definitely not replicate it, so I just put the whole thing aside to do other things.  In the meantime, the Stephen Lewis Foundation staff has been working hard to collect and sort thousands of photographs for our use, (deposited by categories in DropBox) and have built a PowerPoint template for us to use when doing presentations.  All of these things are technical challenges for me!!  I have already done two mini-presentations without all the technical help, and they went fairly well.   One of the other things I did, too, was to have an interview with Gordon Lambie of the Sherbrooke Record. It was an excellent article published last Tuesday, November 24, and perhaps when I learn how to do it, I will include it in my blog.  I am trying to learn the technology as I go along.

Monday, October 5 early in the morning, the quiet of the big hotel slowly shifted to a buzz of activity. We were up early for breakfast, and already there were grandmothers arriving--like a kaleidoscope of butterflies landing in the rainforest, these gorgeous women appeared in their brightly coloured traditional dresses, shyly entering the hotel where everything was to happen.  Excitement began to rise and flow in our hearts.  Each grandmother ("jaja" in the Ugandan language) registered her name and her group, and we all received name tags on lanyards that were colour coded by regions.  We were all given beautiful patch work bags, each one unique, made in Uganda, to hold all the treasures we would collect along the way.  Over 500 of those bags were distributed that day.  Some of the jajas wore their bags with the handles around their necks like a bright billboard, showing the embroidered logos of the Grandmothers Gathering and the Stephen Lewis Foundation. 

Photo by Oscar Kibuuka Mukisa

At the back of the registration hall was a kiosk run by the St. Johns Ambulance medical people.  They will feature in my story as time goes on. 

Once registered, we went into the largest convention hall, where we sat in our groups, according to our coloured lanyards and name tags.  We Canadian grannies sat right in the front, which was a good vantage point, but we later wished we could have been mixed together with the Ugandan grannies with whom we were already making friends

Photo by Edward Echwalu

There was much excitement, hugging, and yipping as we took our seats.  At 9 am the show began!  The MC was a great lady, a jaja herself, by the name of Kaka Jolly!  She had a powerful voice  and relentless energy as she directed us through the schedule for the day.  This started with general welcomes and introductions as more  and more jajas and the staff members of their groups entered the  hall.  Kaka Jolly introduced her daughter, Patience, who is the director of one of the community based organizations that provides medical help for the jajas.  She spoke to the whole gathering and said "if you have any problems, you must come to see me today and I will help you."   She said she would be at the St. Johns Ambulance kiosk at the back of the registration hall.  She was very emphatic about this.

Kaka Jolly and Daughter, Patience
Photo by Edward Echwalu



 There was also a group of younger women, some teenage girls, ("girls in skirts") who were there to help out in many ways.  "If you need help, ask one of them".  They were dressed in modern dress, so were easy to distinguish from the jajas in their traditional garb, but still very colourful.  African women are not afraid of intensely bright colours.  A few grandmothers came up on the stage and spoke of their experiences, challenges and triumphs, along with some ad lib singing and dancing.

Photo by Edward Echwalu

 Clearly this was just a time for everyone to get settled in, because the Opening Ceremony was yet to come!  And before that, guess what!  We had a Tea Break.

Photo by Me



Tea Breaks came to be one of the favourite activities.  Tea and cookies were served very formally (with proper tea cups and saucers, and linens) by the hotel, out in the large park leading down to the beach.  There were some chairs and benches scattered about, but many of the jajas preferred to sit on the ground under the trees.  We stood in line to get our cups of tea, and that was another opportunity to make new friends, and visit the tables where the community based organizations (CBO's) were exhibiting and selling some of their wares.  It was a little market, and there were always jajas or younger women (and a few men) there to proudly sell their crafts.  We were to learn later, that this was the only way some of the jajas earned a living to support dozens of grandchildren.  It was a beautiful setting, and I think we all came to look forward to the tea breaks, which were quite frequent during the gathering.

Refreshed, we were back in the hall, for the formal Opening Ceremony.  A prayer by Kaka Jolly, the Ugandan national anthem, and the East African Anthem.  Welcoming words from Kenneth Mugeyehwenkyi, (I will only spell that for you once--from now on I will just call him Kenneth!)  was Chairman, and the energy behind this whole event, a most humble man.  He said he had waited a long time for this event, the first national gathering organized by six CBO's with help from SLF--"a dream come true--my joy is complete."  To the gathered jajas he said "if it were not for you we don't know where we would be today. The country is held together because of you--thank you all for coming... . .  Finally the grandmothers have a voice"  I will write more about Kenneth when we visit his project later.  But he was everywhere this day, quietly making sure it all went smoothly. 

Laurie W. from Oakville and Kenneth during the Tea Break
Photo by Me



Numerous grandmothers came up on the stage to speak about their lives and the work of their groups, hungry to use their new found voices.  I wish I could describe each speech, but my fingers were not fast enough to catch all the words, some of which were in Ugandan with a translator.  There were regional performances, dancing and singing, a lovely song by jajas written especially to express their love for Stephen Lewis, and a rather ridiculous performance by us Canadians,  singing "Land of the silver birch, home of the beaver, where still the mighty moose wanders at will . . . . boom diddy boom diddy boom diddy boom"  with much gusto--a song we had just learned the night before.   Don't ask! 

Boom diddy boom diddy boom diddy boom!
Photo by Edward Echwalu

This was followed by remarks by Theo Sowa, the Head of the African Women's Development Fund.  She was not a stranger to us, as she has played an important part in the African Grandmothers Tribunal held in Vancouver last year, and also at the Ask Her meetings which were held in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa this year.  From my sketchy notes I can quote a few words,  "Today we meet in Entebbe to  celebrate all our successes to keep our people alive. . . . we've come together to show how strong African women are.  . . . we are learning how to make use of our strengths . . .by the end of these three days we will have learned (much more) we can take away with us to different parts of Uganda".   You will see photos of Theo later. 

There were also remarks from the Minister Of State for Disability and Elderly, (his name was Titus) which were greeted with lack of enthusiasm, as he clearly did not understand the situation the grandmothers were living.  We were there to help inform him!  It was also unfortunate that the First Lady of Uganda (the wife of the President) the Hon. Janet Kataaha Museveni did not show, although she was on the programme.  She sent another lady to represent her, and to visit the exhibition stalls and to be photographed with the jajas.  This was a disappointment, but it did not spoil the cheerful  atmosphere of the day.  Titus announced that he would have his picture taken with "some old women", and the result of this photo is the one you see below.   Can you find Titus in the photo?  Do you see Kenneth?

Photo by Edward Echwalu

By the way, we had four young, local professional photographers with us, wherever we went, and they did a marvelous job and left us with around 9,000 photos to use in our blogs, letters, presentations, photo albums,  etc.  I plan to dedicate a whole blog page to these photographers--and it will be more of a photo gallery--lots of images, and few words.

Lunch was served at 1:00.  I don't know how the hotel did it, but somehow it accommodated and fed over 500 hungry jajas with an incredible buffet.  Some of the jajas preferred to sit on the dining room floor.  I sat (not on the floor) with a group of jajas from the north west part of Uganda, and I met Joy, who will be the subject of one of my blog pages to come.  

This is Joy in her marching shirt on Wednesday
Photo by Me




What I noticed as I sat with these women was the size of the lunches they had served themselves.  Heaping plates full of meats, breads, salads, and regional food I cannot name--really heaping!  My new friend Joy was a tiny woman, and I thought perhaps she was going to save some of her lunch to take home with her for supper or for the children, but no . . she finished every crumb.  It was explained to me later, that many jajas only eat once a day because of the work they have to complete, and of course, the lack of food.  Joy told me all about herself, and it was from listening to her that I began to feel a sense of optimism--that perhaps the tide really was turning on HIV/AIDS in Africa. 

I am going to leave you there because there is so much more to tell you about that day, that I will start another blog page.  I hope you are not bored by all the detail--I am so privileged to be able to recount this experience, I am hoping you can feel a little bit of the excitement and hope, too. 

I will be glad to get feedback from you, and any suggestions about my blogskills!  Sorry that my photos all have a blueish tint--another technological problem to solve. :)  A bientot. 

Our First Three Days . . .

October 2, 3, and 4.  Well, in my last blog we got as far as our arrival in Entebbe airport.  Entebbe is a city right on the edge of Lake Victoria.  We stayed at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, a huge establishment with five floors of rooms, meeting rooms, a gigantic convention hall, an acre of lobby where we often sat together in big leather chairs before or after meals, a dining room a restaurant and a bar, and a wonderful shady park that rambled down to the water’s edge—where we often had “tea breaks”.   

The name and the elaborate spread reminded me of one of my favourite authors, Alexander McCall Smith, who wrote  humourous detective stories set in Africa.  He loved names like this.  If you enjoy  light-hearted detective novels with an African flavour,  look him up! 

Why such luxury?  It seems rather extravagant but it was explained to us that “the price was right”, and it fulfilled all our needs.  Don’t forget, we were paying our own way at the rates the SLF were able to negotiate.   Practically the whole Convening took place in this hotel. 

On that first day we were pretty much the only guests, and we were busy unpacking, getting to know each other and our roommates, and finding our way around, changing US$ to Ugandan shillings, etc.  We were pretty much all exhausted with jetlag, but too excited to relax and catch up on sleep.  Looking back at it now, I realize I didn’t catch up on my sleep until I arrived home twelve days later.  We sat together in the dining room, served by an army of waiters, experienced their varied menu and the buffet where we could find just about anything we liked, both local and “American”.   Even the Nile Beer.  J   Some wonderful friendships began to blossom.   

We had briefing meetings with the SLF staff, and began to understand what our role was in this amazing event.  We were there to observe and report.  We were encouraged to mingle among the African Grandmothers, and learn from them personally, about the situation they are currently living.  At workshops we were to record all this so that it could be “boiled down” at the end, into the distillation of a Ugandan Grandmothers Statement--the follow-up to the Toronto Statement (2006) and the Manzini Statement (2010).  Had anything changed?  Our observations would help to answer that question.  

 It was suggested that we leave our cameras in our rooms, and allow the three or more local photographers who had been hired to cover the whole event, take photos for us.  That was hard to do!  There were pictures crying out to be taken wherever we turned.  I took a few with my iPhone, and I am glad I did, and will share some of them with you.  But I am exceedingly grateful to these professional young men – (Edward, Emmanuel and Oscar) who were everywhere, recording the event from every angle, far better than we could have ever done.  We were in their photos, schmoozing and hobnobbing with the GMs.  The GMs felt much more comfortable being photographed by their own young men.  Hiring them was a brilliant idea. 

It is all part of the SLF policy of allowing the Grandmothers and the local community based organizations, to run their own show, and have their own people do the work.  GMs could speak out freely and express to us what they were living, and how we could help them.  It was an exercise in listening, instead of talking.  Watching instead of acting.  Becoming engaged in the event instead of controlling it.  It was an important lesson for us.   But I am getting ahead of myself.  We have not yet even met a Ugandan Grandmother!  We were 20 Canadian Grandmothers and two British Grandmothers, preparing ourselves  for possibly the most exciting and important experience of our lives. 

 

One wing and entrance to the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel

 

Meeting in the lobby--smiled down on by Owner

Getting There . . .

They say that getting there is half the fun!  I’m not sure about that.  Getting there was quite an involved, stressful procedure, eased by the SLF givinguseful  advice and information via a number of teleconferences where we were briefed,  and questions were answered.  Lists were sent of things we should bring with us. We began to know our fellow travellers by their voices and names.  I started packing.

We each needed to apply for a Ugandan Visa and we each had to go to our local travel clinic and have all the necessary vaccines administered—both costly and a little painful.   Each of us was responsible for our own fund raising.

 

                                                                      Photo by Laurie Wierzbicki

                                                                        

 The whole trip probably cost $5000+.  We were given the option of soliciting AeroPLan Miles or dollars for our airfare.  I opted for AeroPlan miles and was eventually successful in  collecting enough AeroPlan  miles (120,000) to pay for the $1,800 ticket. 

 

My thanks and gratitude go to friend Pat Webb, friend/son Brian Patrick, and two of his friends, Laura Mills and Ian Burgess, my friends Gissa Israel, Theresa Stott, Bev & Gary Crandall and several anonymous donors.   

Very Important . . .The staff and Grandmothers of SLF do most of their flying back and forth on AeroPLan miles.  They are very grateful for your donations, and it is very easy to do.  Please consider donating your AeroPlan Miles to the Stephen Lewis Foundation regularly.  More information can be found on the AeroPlan website, and the SLF website or just Ask Me!   

The rest of the trip was paid for in cash donations, again from family and friends and my own resources.  It was well worth every nickel.  I did solicit our local politicians and 16 Quebec senators, but only received the courtesy of a reply from one of them, whose answer was “sorry, but NO” .  

I left home at 2 am October 1, and Granny Alice drove me and my two bags to the Pierre Trudeau Airport for 4 am.  My Aeroplan route took me from Montreal to Washington to Addis Ababa to Entebbe.  I was very nervous about travelling alone in unknown airports.  So I was advised by friends to ask for “assistance” , and this worked very well, as I was whisked in a wheelchair through the Dulles airport by a very genial Egyptian worker, onto a shuttle bus, and to the gate from where the Ethiopian flight was leaving.  There I met my first Granny colleague, Laurie from Oakville, wearing her distinctive granny scarf, and we travelled together the rest of the trip, which was long but smooth.  We spent three hours in the Addis Ababa airport, window shopping and drinking fruit juice in a little restaurant, and getting to know each other—a lasting bond.  At last we arrived in Entebbe at 1:00 pm Uganda time on October 2, where SLF folks were waiting for us.  Hooray!

October 31, 2015 

I have been home for three weeks, and I am finally beginning to catch up with my blog.  I truly apologize for this delay.  I promised I would keep in touch, but I didn’t.  Blogging in Uganda turned out to be much more difficult than I thought—time was pretty much all scheduled for us-- there were long, busy days, and exhausted nights--and the wifi was not always reliable.  Those are my excuses.  

Also, during the gathering, I tripped and fell on my face, which slowed me down a little, but didn’t stop me.  And the day I arrived home, I developed an intestinal bug which laid me low for the first week of my return, and by that time I was scurrying around trying to put together a presentation for the Quebec Grannies Gathering on October 30.   The poor blog just kept being postponed and postponed.  

 Now I will never be able to give you a day by day description of the trip, a blow by blow account of each day, because it has all become a huge blur, inspite of the copious notes I kept.  (You may be grateful for this.) What I intend to do is make a series of blog entries, each featuring something of importance that occurred during those 12 days of the visit, as well as the outcome of the entire event.  I will include at least one photo with each blog entry, and when it is all put together, it will be my best effort to share this most incredible experience with you. 

People ask me “How was your trip?”   I have not yet found an adequate one-word answer.  Those emphatic adjectives we splash around, like awesome, amazing, incredible, are simply inadequate.   It was a life-changing experience which indelibly marked my soul.  And part of my soul will remain forever in Uganda with the jajas I met, hugged and danced with.  

“Trip” is not even the right word!  It was a mission involving over 500 jajas and Grandmothers, along with many staff members of the Stephen Lewis Foundation and Ugandan community based organizations.  Was the mission accomplished?   We believe so . . .