{"id":2621,"date":"2012-11-08T10:56:12","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T10:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.africlub.net\/awdf\/?p=2621"},"modified":"2012-11-08T10:56:12","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T10:56:12","slug":"theo-sowa-speaks-at-hope-rising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awdf.org\/OldSite\/theo-sowa-speaks-at-hope-rising\/","title":{"rendered":"Theo Sowa speaks at ‘Hope Rising’, a benefit concert for the Stephen Lewis Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was told about Hope Rising<\/a> and asked to say a few words, I accepted\u00a0immediately.\u00a0\u00a0No hesitation, no checking of schedules \u2013 just immediate acceptance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were two reasons for this.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first is all about Stephen Lewis.\u00a0\u00a0He has been a key influence in my life – though I am only one of so many young women (well, not so young now!) whose careers he has nurtured. I will always love him for his passion, his caring, his fierce commitment to challenging the inequities of our world\u2026 and also for his ingrained respect for others, especially women. It\u2019s that determination to root out inequality, to challenge the use and abuse of power, and to nurture strength and potential that has been reflected not just in his life and work, but also in the establishment and the work of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And that is the second reason I came:\u00a0 Because I knew that Hope Rising wouldn\u2019t be the typical fundraising event.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve witnessed far too many that have made me furious about their portrayals of African women as helpless, hapless victims, about their pictures of children with distended bellies and their implications\u00a0that\u00a0Africans cannot or do not care for their children or communities, and need to be \u2018saved\u2019 by people thousands of miles away. I knew that SLF would make sure Hope Rising was about solidarity and not a degrading type of pity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It has been a great privilege to have spent years working alongside many truly extraordinary African women\u2026I cannot and never would dream of speaking for them, but I do want to bring them into this space this evening \u2013 as I know them \u2013 experts, innovators and true leaders.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So let me tell you the story of just one of the thousands of women we want to celebrate. Patience is a retired nurse living in Tanzania, raising 5 grandchildren.\u00a0\u00a0After losing three of her five adult children to AIDS, she made the 5 hour walk to the nearest clinic with her grandchildren, and they all got tested.\u00a0\u00a0Only 1 child tested positive, but so did Patience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Depression, and the sting of stigma kept Patience at home for months. Her<\/p>\n

grandchildren stayed home from school, worried sick about the only adult left in their lives. Maybe it was seeing her grandchildren so frightened; maybe it was her love<\/p>\n

for them, or the knowledge that her three dead children had entrusted her with the wellbeing of their children; or maybe it was what used to be drummed into me as a child \u2013 that African women just don\u2019t give up! Whatever the motivation, Patience found the strength to pull herself out of that depression and tackle the multiple calamities that AIDS had laid at her door.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, Patience is a home-based care worker\u00a0with a project called Umatu. Every day she is up at 5 a.m., gets the children ready for school, cooks a modest breakfast, and heads out on a bicycle to care for 20 other families struck down by AIDS.\u00a0\u00a0They are in different stages of suffering and loss, and for many, it is the nutrition, healing, counseling and support that Patience and Umatu bring that has helped them begin to live positively with HIV, rather than dying from AIDS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet, even as we celebrate Patience, we must ask why her expertise is so marginalised in decision making circles; why her voice is not heard in the corridors of power where HIV\/AIDS policy is designed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This short sightedness has accelerated the ravages of AIDS in Africa — along the faultlines of gender inequality. Women\u2019s bodies have become the ground zero of the pandemic: The violence they absorb, the love and nurture they give, the children they nurse, the children they bury, the grandchildren they raise.\u00a0\u00a0With pain and with strength, women repair the fabric of their lives and of those around them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is this expertise that the SLF listens to and treats with respect.\u00a0\u00a0In 9 years the SLF has invested over 60 million dollars, working with more than 300 organisations in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.\u00a0 We can see the profound difference in the quality of life in those communities, but so much more still needs to be done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At an African grandmothers\u2019 gathering in Swaziland in 2010 hosted by the SLF and a local organization, SWAPOL, we heard the powerful voices of African women. Let me end with their words:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2006 we were battered by grief, devastated by the deaths of our beloved sons and daughters, and deeply concerned for the futures of our grandchildren.\u00a0\u00a0We stand here today battered, but not broken.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0We are the backbones of our communities. We form the core of community-based care. With our love and commitment we protect and nurture our orphan grandchildren.\u00a0\u00a0Africa cannot survive without us.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0We are strong, we are visionary, we have faith and we are not alone. Together we will turn the tide of AIDS.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tonight I ask you to show that those grandmothers really are not alone. I ask you to stand in solidarity with the women of Africa, with the SLF, and with women and men of commitment the world over \u2013 to stand in solidarity to turn the tide of AIDS\u2026 and to keep hope rising. Thank you.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Some participants at the ‘Grandmothers Gathering’, Swaziland, 2010.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was told about Hope Rising and asked to say a few words, I accepted\u00a0immediately.\u00a0\u00a0No hesitation, no checking of schedules \u2013 just immediate acceptance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were two reasons for this.   The first is all about Stephen Lewis.\u00a0\u00a0He has been a key influence in my life – though I am only one of so many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[667,668,669,622,520,166],"class_list":["post-2621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-benefit-concert","tag-grandmothers-gathering","tag-hope-rising","tag-speech","tag-stephen-lewis","tag-theo-sowa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTheo Sowa speaks at 'Hope Rising', a benefit concert for the Stephen Lewis Foundation - 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