The Story of African Threads

I was working my studio one wintry evening in 2006, listening to a radio lecture about AIDS in Africa. I was galvanized by the report. Stephen Lewis described the plight of Grandmothers throughout Africa and how they have been left to care for an estimated 16,000,000 children orphaned by the brutal HIV/AIDS pandemic. Lewis called them “Africa’s unsung heroes”. They’ve buried their own children and now care for their grandchildren – not just 2 or 3, but often up to 20 or more children. Lewis had worked as the United Nations Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa and his despair over the lack of action drove him to found the highly respected Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Truth is, HIV/AIDS is Africa’s holocaust and has cut a terrible swath through the prime childbearing age group in Africa. Women are more vulnerable to this virus so mothers are being decimated, and South Africa has the highest HIV rates in Africa. So, the Grandmothers, often in poor health and without resources, simply try to keep the orphaned children alive, let alone educated. In 2006 Lewis issued a clarion call to women and launched the Grandmother-to-Grandmother Campaign in Canada. Grandmother groups spread rapidly, proving to be a remarkable story of healing and reaching out to women in Africa. http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/

That wintry evening listening to the radio was a pivotal moment: I knew exactly what I needed to do to help.

African Threads is based at 195 Fairmont St, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. B0J 2E0.       All the good sold on this site are bought on a fair trade basis from women's groups in South Africa.