Welcome

As HIV/AIDS ravages families and communities in Africa, grandmothers have emerged as the continent's unrecognized heroes. Surrounded by poverty, hunger and desolation, they care for children orphaned by AIDS, sometimes as many as ten to fifteen in one household. These incredibly strong and courageous women bury their own children and become parents again, calling on astonishing reserves of love and emotional resilience. But they do so with almost no support. Sub-Saharan Africa has overwhelming numbers of children orphaned by AIDS — an estimated 13 million, projected to reach 18-20 million by the year 2010. As the death rate accelerates, countries and communities simply cannot cope.

Gogo is a Zulu word meaning grandmother. The GogoGetters is a local group of Cobourg and Port Hope Ontario and area residents coming together to raise awareness about the issues that these grandmothers are facing in Africa and to raise money to support projects funded by the Stephen Lewis Foundation.  Our GogoGetters group is one of the more than 150 groups across Canada who have taken up the call to action and together have raised over $1,000,000 for the campaign.  The Stephen Lewis Foundation directs these funds to community-level organizations in 14 sub-Saharan African countries that provide grandmothers with much needed support such as food, housing grants, school fees for their grandchildren and grief counselling.

Help us to help the gogos.  Find out what you can do here, and please consider donating to The Stephen Lewis Foudation online.  It's quick and easy to do and you'll get a tax receipt.

For more information about this group or upcoming events, please contact Gillian at gillian_berridge@hotmail.com.

For more about the Stephen Lewis Foundation and the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign, refer to www.stephenlewisfoundation.org.

   

Stride to Turn the Tide 2011

June 11, 2011

On June 11th, 2011, The Northumberland GogoGetters once again joined with grandmother groups across Canada by participating in a 5K walk in Cobourg to raise awareness and money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

The GogoGetters walked this year in memory of Penny Lewis.

Thanks to support from the local community, we were able to raise over $3,500 to help fund community-level organizations in 15 sub-Saharan African countries that provide grandmothers with much needed support such as: nutritious food, adequate housing and bedding, school fees and supplies for their grandchildren, grief counselling, support groups, and HIV awareness training.

Here are a few pictures from the event:
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 

Spellabrate 2010 a Success!

October 23, 2010

The Northumberland GogoGetters held our second annual Scrabble event on Saturday, October the 23rd at 1p.m. at the Salvation Army Church Hall in Cobourg, once again timed to coincide with the Stephen Lewis Foundation's "A Dare to Remember" campaign.  The response we received was fantastic once again, the 40 or so participants raised over $2,500 to help to ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa.   

If you are interested in participating again next year, please get in touch.  Email us at goodwordsforafrica@yahoo.ca.

 

Stride to Turn the Tide

June 12, 2010

On June 12th, 2010, The Northumberland GogoGetters joined with grandmother groups across Canada by participating in a 5K walk in Cobourg to show our support for the courageous and resilient grandmothers of Africa who are caring for children orphaned by AIDS, and changing the course of the pandemic in their communities.

Stride to Turn the Tide was a grassroots initiative brought forward by a grandmother group in Canmore, Alberta that spread across the country.

Thanks to support from the local community, we were able to raise over $1,000 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Here are a couple of pictures from the event:
 

 
 

GogoGetters' Scrabble Event a Smashing Success!

October 24, 2009

On Saturday, October the 24th, we held our very first Scrabble fundraising event, timed to coincide with the Stephen Lewis Foundation's "A Dare to Remember" campaign.  The response we received was fantastic, the 50 or so participants raised over $3,500 to help to ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa.   

 

The event took place at the Salvation Army Citadel in Cobourg.  The play was intense at times, but always good-humoured.
 

 

 

 

Captain Jim Sinclair was high scorer, the ONLY player to break 200. Well done!
 

 

High scoring team was the Canadian Federation of University Women.
 

 

Celia Miles from the Brighton Probus Club led the way by raising the most money of any of our participants.
 

 

And the Pine Ridge Vets team raised the most of any team.  Well done!
 

 

Our esteemed judge, there to rule on any disputes or to clarify any rules, was Wanda Zyla.  Wanda was terrific.
 

 

Extra special  thanks to the Apple Route Grannies who travelled all the way from Brighton to help out behing the scenes, ably assisted behind the scenes by our own Marriette.

Brad Halls and Laura Harp Provide a Fabulous Evening of Entertainment.

November 15, 2007

Our third musical evening was another tremendous success with a terrific performance by local favourites Brad Halls and Laura Harp at our favourite spot, Meet at 66 King East in Cobourg.   

Thanks again to Edward and Diana for letting us use such a wonderful venue, this time we used both rooms.  Brad and Laura wowed the crowd in the new room while the original room hosted our silent auction, overseen by Penny.  Bidding was fierce.

Marilyn and Donna were co-MCs and did a great job.

The evening couldn't have gone better.

Here's a short clip of Brad and Laura.

 

African Grannies Visit Cobourg!

The GogoGetters were honoured and delighted to host two visiting African Grannies for a short visit with refreshments, wisdom, questions and answers. Mama Zodawa and Darlina held court with a group including our members, young people from the West High School's Interact Club, and pastors and parishoners from St. Peter's Church among others.

All were charmed by the Grannies, members of the South African AIDS activist group TAC, and impressed with their message. We were also delighted to meet Julie Coultas of the Stephen Lewis Foundation who accompanied the women.

A wonderful afternoon!

Click here to visit our blog and read a couple of articles from the local papers describing the event.