Grandmothers to Grandmothers Solidarity Quilt

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Friday, April 26th, 2024
April 26 10-8, April 27 10-5, April 28 12:30-4, April 29 10-8, April 30 10-8, May 1 10-7

A travelling exhibit coming to Nanaimo, The Grandmothers to Grandmothers Solidarity Quilt: Nurturing Generations Under the Canopy of Sisterhood, celebrates the Stephen Lewis Foundations' 20th Anniversary.

This quilt was created by over 300 women across Canada to honour the power and impact of women’s leadership, activism and collaboration in communities around the world.

The Zulu word for grandmother is GoGo. When our Nanaimo group formed in 2006, we named ourselves The NanGo Grannies. We had a hand in creating this quilt in 2023 when it travelled to Nanaimo as part of its cross-Canada journey.

We are part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s (SLF) Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, which has raised over $2M annually to invest in social enterprise, skill building, micro lending, training, healthcare and other life changing needs of grandmothers and their communities in sub-Saharan Africa, by hosting fundraisers, craft sales, and events. This was in response to the AIDS pandemic which is still ravaging sub Saharan Africa, the very survival of communities was under threat: almost an entire generation of women and men were lost to AIDS, leaving millions of children without parents. In the midst of this global health disaster, grandmothers courageously stepped forward to guide their grandchildren through their grief and toward a more hopeful future.