Message from Ilana at SLF

Dear Galvanized Grandmothers!!

This message from Ilana contains the following subject matters ? PLEASE SEND IT FAR AND WIDE TO THOSE IN YOUR GRANNY NETWORKS:

1) Grandmother infrastructure at the SLF in Toronto
2) October 18th launch of the SLF film on women and AIDS in Africa.
3) SLF grandmother team going to Africa
4) Grandmother speakers? bureau training in Toronto
5) Selling African crafts ? a proposal
6) Advocacy update ? I?ll write about this in the next missive, so that this isn?t so long?
7) September 8th march on Parliament Hill ? again, I?ll write in a day or two about this..

This is really an email with exciting new developments and thoughts that I would like to share with you and to spark a ?conversation? with all of the grandmothers across the country who are in groups and doing remarkable work to raise awareness, focus attention and raise desperately needed funds to support the grandmothers of Africa in the midst of the AIDS pandemic and the children in their care!

All of this is open for discussion ? so I?m hoping that you will all discuss and debate the merits of each proposal and get back to me with your thoughts and insights!

Warmly,
Ilana

1) Grandmothers infrastructure in Toronto

For some time now, the SLF staff in Toronto have been telling you that we are (happily) inundated with emails and phone calls from all of you out there across the country in grandmother groups! We are receiving approximately 300 emails a day and on average 30 phone calls a day, and it?s a wonderful challenge!

While we?ve been busily attending to this amazing avalanche, we have also been strategizing around managing it ever-better and being in the position to ?service? your needs (insofar as we are being asked to) properly.

SO PLEASE NOTE:
a) Julie had an unfortunate family emergency two weeks ago, as many of you know, and will not be back in the office for two weeks. We are wishing her well and looking forward to her return! (this explains the delay in the Newsletter you got this morning)
b) Melva Snowling, a grandmother (of one, and about to be two children!), is volunteering with the Foundation for the next few months 4 days a week. Melva is an extraordinarily experienced woman (with years of organizing, policy, public administration work, also former Chair of the Niagra Regional Police Board) experience, who, in a calm and comprehensive way is tackling our database and taking over ALL of the EVENT-related communication with all of you and follow-up. This is going to make a huge difference, and we?re so excited to have Melva with us!
c) Mary Anna Beer continues to be our deeply valued colleague - Advisor to the Grandmothers? Campaign, and I know she is in touch with many of you for the SLF and has been traveling extensively around the country meeting with groups, doing presentations on the work we are doing, the difference you are all making in the lives of the grandmothers and children for whom you are fundraising/awareness raising, and talking through any issues/ideas/questions you might have about the Campaign, the SLF, and the work at the grassroots with grandmothers and their grandchildren in Africa
d) Tinyan Otuomagie has joined us (on Wednesday of this week) to assist with all-things Grandmother in Toronto. She?ll be working in the office full-time, assisting us with all aspects of the Campaign, and all of the upcoming initiatives which we?ll be working on with you. Tinyan will be working hand-in-glove with Julie to facilitate your amazing work from our end, and help us speed up the response time, and the substance of our engagement with all of you! Tinyan has much experience working with diverse communities, working with AWID (the Association for Women?s Rights in Development), and runs her own business doing life-skills coaching/workshop facilitation/training, etc. ? she is a gifted and welcome addition to the team!
e) Joanne Page, Marsha Slivka and Marie Marsellus are all volunteering at the moment to be in touch with each and every group to update your contact information, and touch base. You will be hearing from them (if you haven?t already) in the next couple of weeks. We have a host of other volunteers, and are we are so deeply grateful for the contribution they are all making to the work!!

SO ? things are chugging along, and we are soon (once we?ve all got up to speed!) going to be in a position to answer your emails and phone calls and needs around events (tax receipting, materials, speakers, etc.) that much faster and more substantially. It?s a very exciting time, and we can?t thank you enough for your patience, contribution and support. Most meaningful of all, of course, is your continued support to the African grandmothers ? who are, for their part, organizing with increasing determination and effectiveness, to meet their needs, have a voice that is heard, and care for their families and the children in their care.

2) October 18th launch of the SLF Women and AIDS film in Vancouver
We are going to do another donor appreciation event in October in Vancouver, much like the one recently held in Toronto in May. This is an opportunity to appreciate and share with those who have contributed so meaningfully to the Foundation?s work supporting groups in Africa: grandmothers? groups, community event organizers, etc. etc.

We are going to bring a group of African grandmothers from projects we support to continue the dialogue about their experience of the pandemic and the work they are doing to deal with its effects. We are also going to bring a small group of powerful women who are AIDS activists and whose work the Foundation is supporting. They will speak in a discussion with Stephen after the film. We?re still looking into the venue, and will report to you as things are firmed up.

After the 18th, the grandmothers and women advocates will stay in British Columbia (and perhaps 2 will travel to another city) for 3-4 days to meet with grandmothers groups in the province.

PLEASE NOTE: as we did with the groups in the 5 cities where the African grannies visited in May, we are asking the B.C. groups to talk to one another and tell us what you decide about where the grandmothers should go (we?re hoping to bring 6-8 of them, so they can visit 3-4 places in B.C. ? they will travel in groups of 2).

As with the visits in May ? we will leave it up to the grandmothers? groups in B.C. to organize the events and encounters that they think are important and meaningful within your communities (the Bulletin we sent this morning will give you a sense of what the other grandmother groups around the country did in May!). Part of what was so meaningful in May for the African grandmothers, was the experience of staying with the Canadian grandmothers in their homes. We?re hoping to do the same thing, and to billet the SLF staff who will travel with them as well. This was an unexpected highlight of the visits ? the intimacy and excitement that everyone experienced staying together under one roof ? it definitely awed the African grandmothers, and the hospitality they experienced touched them deeply.
More on this to come!!

3) SLF Grandmother team going to Africa
Well, the time has finally come! We have listened to many of you carefully, and then to the African grandmothers who came in May ? who invited grandmothers from Canada to visit ? with facilitation by the Foundation.

We have been talking to the projects we support on an ongoing basis, about letter-writing and visits from Canadian grandmothers.

The projects and grandmothers have been consistent ? as we?ve often discussed ? the letter-writing is excessively challenging for many (most) of the grandmothers, since they don?t have access to paper, stamps and post offices are far away, and many cannot read nor write themselves, and need assistance from over-extended project coordinators. Additionally, there is the anxiety that has been expressed by many with whom we?re in touch that the grandmothers feel obliged to answer correspondence, and are worried that the support they get will be compromised if they do not ? an entirely unintended ?side-effect? of letter-writing, but one that makes it uncomfortable. There are some groups (like the Gogos in South Africa, as Brenda Rooney?s film shows) who do feel able to participate in this exchange, but generally, we have heard from projects (and I?m putting together a bulletin with their responses so you, too, can hear from them directly) ? that it is not something they can take on with all that they are struggling with already. In terms of visits ? most of the projects have written and told us that they find it very difficult to manage visits from well-wishers and supporters. They are stretched thin already, they know how much acclimatizing has to happen and they don?t have the resources to ?guide? people through the terrain, the upset of bearing witness to what is happening ?on the ground?, and the hosting of visitors generally.

Having said this, some of the projects did indicate that if a visit was carefully and thoughtfully facilitated, it could be mutually beneficial and reinforcing.

We are in consultation with some of the projects we support who are working with grandmothers at the grassroots in the 14 countries where we support initiatives.

The idea is to take a group of 12 grandmothers from Canada to two countries in Africa to visit projects supporting grandmothers (and the children in their care) to see what is happening first-hand ? to see the effects of the AIDS pandemic first-hand, the resilience and courage of the grandmothers? response, the effectiveness and thoughtfulness of the projects working with them, their needs, etc.

This idea is still in its infancy. Here is what I?m thinking, and I?d like to discuss it with all of you!
1) setting this up thoughtfully and so that our African partners are involved properly and significantly
2) setting up a ?system? here for identifying who will go from Canada ? right now, I?m thinking that each of the ?hubs? of granny groups will ?nominate? 2 women to represent their collective groups; it will also be open to everyone (nominated or not ? AND those nominated) ? to ?apply? with an application ? so that if you didn?t get nominated you still have the opportunity to go; the application will just be a one pager on why you want to go, etc.; then a Committee of SLF staff and representatives from grandmother groups will be struck and we will altogether make the decision about who goes ? together; each grandmother who goes will have to make a commitment to return and work with grandmothers groups to raise awareness and funds ? in order to ensure that the experience of those who go comes back to the groups here in a meaningful and on-going way
3) I?m thinking that if all of you start a ?mini-campaign? to raise Aeroplan miles, (since Aeroplan will allow people to donate points to the SLF for our use!) ? and then we could send all 12 of you to Africa on points ? which would be wonderful!!!! If those grandmothers who go could cover their costs in-country (and perhaps the groups can fundraise to make this possible!)
4) We will arrange the visits to projects, the air travel (with points that you?ll raise?!), the logistics within Africa (though we?d need each participant to pay their own way for expenses there).
5) We would do a full orientation/briefing for those of you going, of course and you would be accompanied on your trip by SLF representatives.
6) WHEN would we do this? In the new year ? which will give us all time ? to identify participants, raise points, to raise/save funds, to organize the trip, speak to the projects and grandmothers in Africa, renew passports (!) and get Visas
SO ? WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?!
4) Speakers? Bureau/training/orientation
I am interested to hear from you if you think this is a good idea! Mary Anna Beer has been traveling, as many of you know, visiting grandmothers? groups around the country and doing presentations/giving talks/sharing information, etc. Recently, Mary Anna did a kind of ?training? with a group to share with them how she does her presentations, the issues that she discusses, how the Foundation works, etc. It was a very instructive meeting, and the group started to feel that they, too, could start speaking to others about the situation in Africa, what the grandmothers are dealing with there, what the SLF is doing with its support and the funds raised by grandmothers in Canada, etc.

We are thinking of offering something similar to those of you who are interested in becoming ?spokeswomen? with your group and your community and OTHER grandmothers? groups. Are there some of you who would like to do this? Is it a good idea? It could be a one day ?training? in a couple of cities, or several of you coming to Toronto ? it?s open for discussion and we?re interested to hear from you whether or not there are more of you who would be interested.

5) Selling African Crafts
Increasingly, groups of you around the country are asking us about selling African crafts made by grandmothers from projects we support. Of course, the Foundation is not set up to do this ? and it can get incredibly complicated.

So ? this idea is a little off the wall, perhaps, but I was wondering if there are some of you out there who might want to consider starting some kind of online ?store? ? you could use the projects we fund ? the grandmothers whom we know in projects who are making crafts (like the adorable Little Traveler pins from Hillcrest in South Africa) ? but we would leave it to the ?experts? amongst you to figure out how to bring the crafts here, to make sure they?re ?fair trade? (that the grandmothers are being compensated fairly, for instance), and how to sell them and manage the ?business?. This is not something that the SLF can be involved in, since we don?t have the capacity, the expertise or the mandate. But I just wanted to see if some of you might be interested in thinking about it. I can think of all sorts of challenges ? what if some ?products? sell and some don?t ? then one group of grandmothers in a project would benefit and others wouldn?t (which would be pretty heartbreaking). One group of grandmothers I talked to about this suggested that a general ?pot of profit? be generated and funneled through the Foundation so that we could disburse the funds to ALL the projects supporting grandmothers. These kinds of things would have to be thought through. This is for your thoughts, insights, feedback?


Much to talk about and much to anticipate!
Thank you for reading this long missive? I look forward to being in touch!

Warmly,
Ilana