Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Stephen Lewis’s legacy

Local grandmothers, school children reaching out to counterparts in Africa
1439lewis
Spanning Generations Grandmother Beth Harlow looks on as Whistler Secondary School student Nadine Crowe guides Spring Creek students Ryan Grills and Sydney Galder in their presentation. The presentations will be made at all district schools in the weeks following Stephen Lewis's talk in Whistler to raise awareness and money for AIDS/HIV in Africa.

When grandmother Beth Harlow heard about a Whistler community project aimed at helping grandmothers millions of miles away, she was intrigued.

As a grandmother of two, she couldn’t help but be drawn in to the plight of those grandmothers in sub-Saharan Africa who are now caring for some of the 13 million grandchildren orphaned by AIDS.

When approached by the project organizer, Cathy Jewett, to take part in raising awareness and funds, she found she couldn’t say no.

“I just think it’s an awesome project,” said the retired teacher. “First of all, I have a little bit of experience that I thought would be helpful to them… Second of all, being a grandmother, my heart goes out to the grandmothers in Africa who are trying to raise children who have been orphaned because of AIDS. I just think it’s an amazing thing to do. I just so much admire Stephen Lewis for putting together the foundation to try to help these people and I just thought it was a very small thing that I could do.”

Jewett developed the project around the upcoming visit of one of Canada’s pre-eminent politicians and diplomats, Stephen Lewis, the former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Lewis will be speaking in Whistler on Friday, Oct. 19, the last speaker in the Whistler Social Sustainability Speaker Series.

That series ranged in focus from the individual to couples and families to relationships with First Nations neighbours.

“We were building from an individual out to the community,” said Jewett. “Now we want to touch on global social justice. So we thought ‘who’s the number one Canadian that’s going to spring to mind in social justice issues?’ Stephen Lewis.”

Jewett thought it was a long shot to entice Lewis; nonetheless she made the call.

Lewis accepted.

And so, the community project was born, along with some very lofty fundraising goals for his cause.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation funds more than 100 community-level initiatives to help ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa. One of his projects is the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, aimed at helping those women who have stepped in to fill the void left by their own children who have died of the disease. In some countries, more than half the AIDS orphans live in grandmother-led households.

Jewett’s idea began with a handful of high school student volunteers who were asked to research Stephen Lewis and the AIDS/HIV epidemic in Africa.

Six students were recruited by Whistler Secondary School teacher Alison Williams, who can’t speak highly enough about their leadership skills. She calls these students her “dream team.” They are: Nadine Crowe, Bronwyn Lawrie, Dana Jensen, Hannah Auer, Lonnie Wake and Eleanor Messeguer.

“It’s tough for them because they’re in Grade 12,” said Williams. “Their timetables are really demanding. They’re taking examinable courses but they’re taking a lot of time out to do this. They’re really dedicated.”

Research in hand, the Grade 12 students then met with 18 students from Spring Creek Elementary who had also volunteered for the community project, organized by principal Gerri Galloway.

Those younger student volunteers are: Alicia Longstaff, Beverly Horler, Bryn Horner, Cheyenne Petrich, Danielle McCaffrey, Dylan Girard, Emily Cankovic, Erin Bonin, Georgia Baker, Kaila LeRose, Katrina Underhill, Lisa Nakajma, Madison Trotto, Paloma Stefano, Ryan Grills, Sammy Knapton, Savannah Pantages, Stephanie McColm and Sydney Calder.

Together the older students are leading the younger students in developing a power point presentation on the issue.

Grade 6 student Ryan Grills volunteered because he wanted to learn more about Stephen Lewis.

“He sounded like a really interesting guy,” he said as he worked on power point slides this week at the high school.

His group is working on slides for the power point that detail Lewis’s career. Other groups have focused on Lewis’s life, on the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign, and on the AIDS/HIV crisis in Africa.

The students will then pass on the power point project to local grandmothers like Harlow, who will present it to all the schools in the Howe Sound School District.

The idea is to raise awareness and funds with a goal to collecting a Twoonie from every student in the district, for a total $9,000 contribution to the campaign.

“When you’re talking about Stephen Lewis and his cause, AIDS/HIV in Africa, that’s a very sensitive subject and, to a certain extent, a very mature subject, and yet there’s millions of children that are orphaned or have the virus themselves,” said Jewett.

“I think our kids realize how fortunate we are here and how much we can afford to give.”

Jewett is still looking for more grandmothers, grandparents or seniors to take part in the project. She can be reached at cjewett@whooshnet.com .

Tickets for the Stephen Lewis talk on Friday, Oct. 19 are now on sale at Armchair Books in Whistler and Mostly Books in Squamish. Tickets are $20 cash. There is room for 800 seats at Whistler Secondary but tickets are expected to go quickly.

Lewis is scheduled to speak for just under an hour and will then take questions from the audience.

Jewett also stresses the “sustainability” aspect of the presentation; there is enough parking for 100 cars at the high school. Attendees are encouraged to take transit or car pool. Limited childcare is available.

To learn more about Stephen Lewis before his presentation go to www.stephenlewis foundation.org.