Zomba, Malawi Africa, 2007

Dear Gogo Grandmothers across the ocean,

I would like to share a vignette of Africa with you--a picture I became a part of when in 1990, I joined my husband, Dick Day, who was invited to teach at the University of Malawi.

After leaving our own 13 grandchildren for that one year, we became aware of the one million Malawian grandchildren who are orphaned, many due to the AIDS pandemic. And, as our years of living in Africa multiplied, I became part of this picture. God, the Artist, gave me an opportunity to be a "brush stroke" in His design.

At first, I began by addressing the needs of children and their development as part of the faculty of the university. This led to work in the villages, where 80 percent of the children live. Nearly 50 percent are stunted in growth— physically, spiritually and psycho-socially. In Malawi, one out of six children die before the age of five and one third of the babies born to HIV positive mothers will be infected.

Besides the needy children in this painting, there are the rural grandmothers--the poorest of
the poor, who work the land they live on by hand—hoeing maize and beans to feed their orphaned grandchildren. Their own children are not in the picture; they died leaving the grandmothers destitute in their old age with no help in nurturing the next generation.

In the tribal language, Chichewa, the word for grandmother is "gogo." The picture is taking on a new dimension! There are American grandmothers like yourselves in the picture, adding light and warmth to the painting!

Thus, Gogo Grandmothers, a grandmother-to-grandmother initiative, began adding life to the
canvas. In California and Virginia, grandmothers began gathering together and praying for their gogo sisters in Malawi. Many began giving in order to provide seeds and commercial fertilizer for better crops. They also began giving funds for blankets, clothing and the necessities of life. Another addition to the picture, Malawian urban educated grandmothers, are gathering together in the cities to help their rural counterparts--more activity in this picture!

Now, Gogo Grandmothers become the focus of the design, bringing a greater depth and clarity to this design of the Artist!

The greatest two needs are to help the caring grandmothers physically and spiritually. Physically, they need us to be a definite part of the picture in helping them raise their grandchildren with food and school fees while the orphans are kept within the community which is so culturally appropriate. Your projects to help in humanitarian ways give boldness to this painting.

Prayer is needed for the spiritual battle going on for their lives and lives of their grandchildren-the next generation of Africans. God provided more brush strokes--a connection with Moms In Touch, Intl. (MITI), whose purpose is to provide the connections and tools for mothers and grandmothers to pray together for their grandchildren. Permission was given to have some of the prayer information translated into Chichewa to be placed on solar-powered recorders that can be used by the illiterate grandmothers in their village setting.

Gogo Grandmothers groups, made of women like you, are using some of the same prayer tools to pray with and for the African grandmothers. In the words of the founder of MITI, Fern Nichols, "Those things we see as impossible mountains in the lives of our children and grandchildren can be removed by praying the promises of God." This adds peace and hope—dispelling some of the shadows in our painting.

The work of the Artist-Designer is unfinished, but is becoming more beautiful as Gogo Grandmothers groups are forming across the United States. They, like you, are linking with the African village gogo grandmothers. Leslie Lewis is coordinating the Gogo Grandmothers groups forming in the United States. I, with SAFE-Africa, will be working with the village grandmothers, keeping in touch with you from Africa.

And so, God's artwork is taking on finishing touches as we begin this adventure together. I want to thank each one of you for being unique and special "brush strokes" on this canvas as we partner together. Through your prayers and giving, the picture portrays God's love and your love for the grandmothers of Malawi. The canvas needs you and your group to complete this work of the Master Designer.

Blessings,
Charlotte Day
A gogo sister in Africa