Dear readers,
As we in the United States celebrate National Grandparents Day on Sunday, September 13, I thought this would be an appropriate time for my friend, Hannah Laufer-Rottman, to talk about the important role the grandmothers, known as the Gogos, are playing in Swaziland, a country in Africa. (Gogo is an honorific title that is capitalized.)
As the founder of Palms for Life, an organization dedicated to eradicating worldwide hunger and poverty, Hannah has extensive experience with the Gogos.
The Gogos of Swaziland
By Hannah Laufer-Rottman
The traditional role of the Swazi Gogo (grandmother) is quite similar to that of our grandmothers, but with even more prestige attached to it, as they are the “repositories of tradition.” When a young girl reaches puberty, the Gogo will teach her the traditional behavior appropriate for her age. When children gather at the mother’s hut, which is the chief hut in every family, they expect to spend time with the grandmother who teaches them all about their clan and customs. Small children often enjoy sleeping at their grandmother’s hut where she tells them stories they love to hear.
However, in recent years, this rather comforting and prestigious role has dramatically transformed for the Gogos in Swaziland. As a result of the epidemics of HIV/AIDs, Gogos have tragically been tasked with burying their own children, one after the other, and with raising their grandchildren, and being breadwinners. Added to caring for their dying sons and daughters, they help manage the pain of the kids who witness the suffering and the death of their parents.
Sadly, Swaziland is the country with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDs in the world. The illness has infected 38.8% of the population, and left one third of all children in a state of extreme poverty and vulnerability.
As kids become orphaned, they need an adult who has a home, can give them some food, as well as a sense of belongingness. The first person they reach out to is their biological Gogo. Some Gogos take care of as many as 11 grandchildren. As they are themselves poor and fight for survival, their needs as primary caretakers are enormous: paying for school supplies, clothes, soap, food. Gogos 60 years and older, receive a small quarterly elderly pension, equivalent to $22 per month, provided by the Swazi government – often paid out with delays, so that by the time they receive the allowance much of it goes to pay off debts accumulated over the months. In many cases, this small pension is the only source of income for the entire family.
Indeed, the AIDs tragedy has impoverished the already poor families, because often the person who died was the only working member of the family and much of the household savings has been spent on health care and funerals.
Today, antiretroviral therapy has helped reduce the country’s AIDS death rate, but nevertheless the social fabric of the country has been eroded with the loss of so many adults. Even some of the orphaned children are HIV positive and rely on retroviral medication for survival.
As Gogos have become the leaders in their households and extended families, many ask basic and scary questions: What if I get sick and am not able to take care of myself anymore? What is going to happen to my kids when I die?
In an effort to address this question and to build a sense of community, support, and solidarity, grandmothers came together. From May 6–8, 2010, hundreds of grandmothers from 13 African countries and 42 Canadian grandmother delegates traveled to Manzini, Swaziland, for the historic African Grandmothers’ Gathering. It was an extraordinary opportunity for them to stand together, share their experiences and concerns, and claim their place on the international stage as experts in the struggle against HIV and AIDS.
At the close of the Gathering, the grandmothers issued the Manzini Statement, which states: “In 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. We stand here today battered, but not broken. We are resilient, and stand unwavering in our resolve to move beyond basic survival, to forge a vibrant future for the orphans and grandmothers of Africa.
We 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. Africa cannot survive without us.”
Indeed, the Gogos of Swaziland stand tall among the grandmothers of the world! They represent a force that keeps shattered family units alive. In the Gogos’ hands lies the future of the nation.
Below you can see my friend, Precious Nxumalo-Banks, delivering a bag of food to 78-year old Salaphi Marriet Mabutane, a Gogo. Precious reaches out to about 50 Gogos in her Zandondo area. Every Friday, she serves Gogos a delicious free meal in her Social Centre.
In recent years, a generous person in the US gave some cash to Palms for Life Fund to support the Gogos in Swaziland. Precious used that gift to buy her Gogos a special Christmas present: a bag with basic food items. Precious said the Gogos really appreciated it: “You should have seen their faces light up as they burst into song when they received their parcels.” (January 2015)
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