The Victoria Grandmothers for Africa (VG4A) are undertaking a virtual cycling tour this year meant to raise funds for fellow grandmothers in Africa who are caring for AIDS-orphaned children.
Approximately 13.4 million children and adolescents between zero and 17 years of age worldwide had lost one or both parents to AIDS as of 2015, with more than 10.9 million of these children living in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Avert.org. This just shows the burden left on the older generation, particularly grandmothers, to fend for these children.
The VG4A has been cycling for the cause once each year as part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation fundraising initiative.
Stefa Katamay, chair of the Cycle Tour team, Victoria Grandmothers for Africa, spoke about the fundraiser on iHeart Radio last week and had this to say:
“The idea was to support African grandmothers who were left with grandchildren to care for because the parents had died from HIV/AIDS. In 2006 the Grandmothers Campaign started and in 2007 we started our cycle tour. Since 2007, the cycle tour alone has raised $800,000 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign.”
VG4A also sells arts and crafts, and hosts other events like auctions and African dinners. They’ve raised more than $1.3 million since 2006.
She went on to explain how the tour will be done this time around due to the impact of the pandemic.
“This year we changed it up because we’re not doing group things with COVID, so the format is quite different. All registered riders together will ride collectively 18,107 km – that is the distance from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia through most of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s funded communities – right to Cape Town, South Africa. So, we had no limit on the number of riders this year.”
“Over four weeks, almost 70 grandmas will track their individual kilometres cycled, with six teams responsible for a 3,000-km stage of the ride,” an article on Victoria News read.
In previous years, only 30 women cycled for 275 km from Campbell River to Victoria in Canada. This year, riders between the ages of 61 and 85 will take part in the challenge which kick started on August 17 and will run ‘til September 13.
Phoebie Shamiso Chigonde is a journalist passionate about gender equality, social development programmes and grassroots-based solution seeking initiatives. She has a passion for women and community development. Phoebie is also a radio personality at a regional commercial radio station, a platform that enables her to network with like-minded women, journalists and activists as she continues to document and tell the story of the ordinary woman from the lens of that very ordinary woman.