Idah Nambeya Mukaka, a senior advisor to international AIDS charity the Stephen Lewis Foundation, will speak at a special free event tonight (Thursday) at Cordia at the Grand Traverse Commons from 5:30pm to 7pm.

Cordia residents helped launch the first U.S. chapter of the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign, which has raised over $25 million worldwide that has gone directly into the hands of African grandmothers and the organizations supporting them on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic. Launched in 2006, the campaign was a Canadian grassroots response to the emerging crisis faced by African grandmothers as they struggled to care for millions of children orphaned by AIDS. 

"African grandmothers became parents anew in the midst of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, putting their grandchildren through school, creating support groups to manage grief, and delivering comfort and hope through home-based care," according to the campaign. "They teach others about HIV prevention and treatment, create local savings and loan groups, and sit on land-rights councils. African grandmothers are leaders, sharing their expertise in their communities and on the international stage, pressing for their human rights and a hopeful future."

Grandmothers and grand "others" across the world - including in the Traverse City chapter - have helped raise funds to support their peers in Africa, many of whom are caring not only for their own grandchildren but other children orphaned by AIDS. At tonight's event, Mukaka will speak about the situation in Africa and her experience with the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign.

Any and all residents - not just grandparents - are welcome to attend and learn about joining the TC chapter of the campaign. Crafts made by African grandmothers and the TC Grandmothers and Others for Africa group will also be for sale at the event to support the campaign.