Grandmothers: a cornerstone of the community
Kandidah learned traditional Ugandan basket weaving from her parents. She never imagined that her skills would later save her. She had joined a “granny group”, which encouraged her to believe in herself and sell her wares.
At first, she could not believe it when her baskets attracted buyers. In only a matter of months, Kandidah was selling enough baskets to provide for her and her two grandchildren, who had lost their parents to AIDS.
Grandmothers have taken on the responsibility for looking after some of the many children orphaned by AIDS in the country. The Nyaka Grandmother Programme was designed to empower those grandmothers to provide stable homes for their grandchildren. Started in 2007, the programme is made up of 98 selfformed groups serving more than 7000 grandmothers in the rural southwest districts of Kanungu and Rukungiri. Any grandmother raising children orphaned by AIDS can join a group. Nyaka staff provide each group with support and guidance, but ultimately the grandmothers decide. They determine who among themselves will receive donated items, microfinance funds, homes, pit latrines and smokeless kitchens and who will attend trainings.
The initiative is part of the larger Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project (NAOP). In 1996, Twesigye Jackson Kaguri came face to face with Uganda’s HIV epidemic. His brother and sister both died of AIDS-related illnesses, leaving him to care for their children. His family was not alone. Orphans swelled the ranks of his village. Instead of using his savings to buy a house, he founded NAOP. Two years later, the Nyaka Primary School opened to welcome 55 students — all orphans.
As more students came, additional classrooms were built. Mr Kaguri did not stop there. His project added a water system, a library and a health clinic, along with a secondary school, as well as the grandmother programme.
“The grandmothers are the cornerstones who sustain the community,” said Mr Kaguri. “People don’t give them recognition, but they are unsung heroes.”
As for Kandidah, the 75-year-old is a successful businesswoman and a leader in her community. She trains other women in the traditional arts of their culture and pays for her two grandchildren to go to school.
