No Quiet Old Age for South Africa's Grannies

The group Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS (GAPA) has around 500 members in South Africa, which has the world’s largest HIV/AIDS caseload. Most women in the group thought their kids would take care of them in old age, but instead they are raising grandchildren whose parents have died of the disease. Of the 1.4 million AIDS orphans in South Africa, some 64 percent are being cared for by their grandparents, usually single grannies.

GAPA was founded in the Khayelitsha township outside Cape Town in 2001. The group provides a setting where they can support each other by sharing their burdens and openly discussing the hardships they face.

“A lot of these grannies have five to 10 mouths to feed from their old-age pension,” said Vivienne Budaza, GAPA’s director. “Their kids are dying like flies.”

Thandiwe Matzinga is a GAPA member in Khayelitsha. Despite her aching joints, the 76-year-old cares for three of her grandchildren: twin 15-year-old boys and a seven-year-old girl. At a local community center, she joins a circle of wrinkled faces to share stories. Three of her nine children have died of AIDS.

“When my neighbors heard that kids of mine died of the disease, they didn’t dare to use the same communal toilet as me,” said Matzinga. Now however, “More and more families around me are hit by HIV/AIDS. There are more and more grannies in the same situation asking for my help.”

Nothemba Mdaka, 71, has raised five grandchildren and now is raising five great-grandchildren. She also is caring for a daughter who soon will likely be her third to die of AIDS. Though initially reluctant to talk to the children about sex, she now takes a different approach. “We need to be open about this,” said Mdaka. “Otherwise this killing disease will never stop.”

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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