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.
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| 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
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| Photo by Edward Echwalu |
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| 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 |
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| 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.
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| 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?
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| 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.
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| 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.
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