What We Do

This is profoundly simple . . .
Gogo Grandmothers provides for the orphans of AIDS in Africa
by assisting the grandmothers who care for them.

In America, and across the world, individuals and Gogo Grandmothers groups (often uniting women who are grandmothers themselves) gather monthly to pray and carry out fund-raising projects that provide what poor "gogos" (grandmothers) in Africa need to raise the orphans of AIDS.

In Africa, the "gogos" (grandmothers) who receive assistance in the villages
gather monthly to be encouraged, to hear God's Word, pray, dance, sing, and learn better hygiene, nutrition and child care practices.

The Gogo Grandmothers organization

The non-profit organization, Gogo Grandmothers, provides a structured way for grandmother groups to put their love and concern in action. It charters local groups and supports them with tools, training, promotional materials, ideas and news. It assures reliable distribution of their resources in Africa. By providing essential structure and support, the efforts of many hundreds of Gogo Grandmother groups are multiplied.

Two distinctives

Foundational to every Gogo Grandmothers group meeting is a focus on both prayer and care. Prayer addresses the spiritual battle going on for their lives and the lives of the children. Care brings the material support the African gogos need. Each part blesses the lives of participating grandmothers.

Gogo Grandmothers follows a refreshing way to pray. In partnership with Moms In Touch International, American and African village gogo meetings follow a simple format for group prayer. Thirty translated lessons on prayer—suitable for illiterate village gogos—are being placed on an amazingly small solar-powered audio player, along with helpful hygiene, nutrition and child care information.

Gogo Grandmothers care by conducting fund-raising efforts that tap the unique interests and abilities within each group. It's just that simple and that powerful.

Each Gogo Grandmothers group typically has a group leader, group secretary, prayer leader, project leader, and treasurer. A Gogo Grandmothers Leader's Manual and training by phone is provided to chartered Gogo Grandmother groups and makes fulfilling these responsibilities efficient and rewarding.

The Story of a Team Effort

In 2005, a household survey was made by SAFE in seven African villages. It found 39 grandmothers caring for a total of 104 orphans. Most had only the small plot of land they lived on to sustain the children. If they couldn't grow it, they didn't eat! Charlotte Day, who lives in Malawi, became aware of the needs. Her heart went out to these poor sisters and her mind began thinking of ways to assist them. When she visited the United States again, she shared her love and concern with a group of seniors at a church.

The response was incredible! Retired grandmothers and grandfathers responded with ideas for advocacy, projects and the fundraising to purchase food and fertilizer to ensure that Malawian gogos in the Makungula Village would eat and be able to raise a good maize crop. "Gogo Grandmothers" was born!

These U.S. grandmothers formed a support group, selected officers, and organized prayer and care projects. With the help of the grandfathers, they put a Gogo Grandmothers logo on T-shirts and had logo patches made. Hand-carved pendants of a grandmother and child which Charlote brought from Malawi, were worn—provoking comments and providing opportunities to share the needs of the African grandmothers and orphans.

One of the group's initial fund-raising projects involved selling note cards they made featuring paintings of African grandmothers and children, created by an artist in their group. Later, they handmade bookmarks of beads, cord and African carvings--all sold in a bookstore, with the proceeds funding what the Malawian grannies needed most.

An Incredible Witness

It will be an incredible testimony to the love our Lord Jesus Christ has for the poorest of the poor—when hundreds of Gogo Grandmothers groups in the U.S. are praying for and providing humanitarian assistance to the African children and their gogos. A great harvest may occur, not only for physical needs, but also when seeds of faith are planted and harvested as Africans are reconciled to their Creator. This can be a model of care for other countries, specifically China, India, and Russia, where the next big wave of AIDS orphans will be created. Prayer and care is the response that will make the greatest difference.

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