Grandmothers by the Lake

Adele Colby | May 14, 2015

by Adele Colby

On May 6, Grandmothers by the Lake hosted a gathering of Eastern Ontario groups featuring Ida Mukuka, a Stephen Lewis Foundation Project coordinator in Sub Sahara Africa. The chairs of the assembled groups felt there was a need to re-energize our grannies, to inspire them and to remind us all of the very important fight we committed to in 2006.

About 60 grandmothers from five chapters: the Kingston Grandmother Connection, the Apple Route Grannies, the Lanark Perth Grannies, the Belleville Quinte Grannies and the Grandmothers by the Lake met in Harrowsmith to network, share a potluck lunch and to listen to Ida.

The day was devoted to Ida. She showed a power point presentation featuring pictures highlighting some of the projects she visits. She elaborated on the intricacies, pitfalls and successes of her daily tasks, where one project can quickly turn into ten new ones. She explained that she starts addressing one issue and inevitably secondary side issues surface and they too must be handled. Never a dull moment!

After a delicious lunch provided by all assembled we went into a Q &A session facilitated by Janet Solberg. Many questions followed. Ida and Janet ably and eloquently addressed the questions. An inspired group of grannies left the gathering raring to go, recommitted to “not rest until they can rest”.

Grandmothers By The Lake will hold their 7th Annual Plant and Bake Sale fundraiser this year on the grounds of St. Paul's United Church on Road 38 in Harrowsmith on Sat. May 30 from 10am to 1pm. NO EARLY BIRD SALES PLEASE! There will be a bake sale specializing in home baked goodies baked by Grandmothers! There will be a huge variety of plants reasonably priced including vegetables, house plants, annuals and perennials - and more! All proceeds go to fund the grassroots projects to help Grandmothers and orphans in Africa. For more information, call Adele at 613-375-8845 or Marni at 613-374-9929.