One of our projects for 2012 is to support the Nyaka AIDS Foundation, for girls and boys orphaned by AIDS in Uganda. Nyaka was founded by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, for the millions of children left behind to their grandparents, who can no longer afford to educate and support them.

Jackson wrote this piece for the Huffington Post for International Women’s Day, on why supporting grandmothers is so important in these situations.  A quote from the article:

The granny groups meet regularly and provide one another support, grief counseling, care, friendship, and love. Beyond experiencing one of the greatest tragedies a mother can face by losing a child, they are challenged with raising their orphaned grandchildren without social security, adequate health care, retirement, child welfare or basic housing. Without their grandmothers, many of our students would be the head of their household and would most likely drop out of school, becoming vulnerable to trafficking and rape.

We support these unsung heroes by providing them a Grandmothers’ Coordinator who trains them on practical life skills such as parenting, grief management, gardening, nursing, leadership and business development.

You can read more about our work with Nyaka and the Stephen Lewis Foundation here.