The Spirited Grannies, a group of socially-engaged Grandmothers from both Canada and the U.S.A, have contributed over 4 full-year, comprehensive scholarships for Basotho students!  This group, working to raise money in Mesa, Arizona, has demonstrated the power of how a committed few can create meaningful and monumental change in the lives of others.  Thank you Spirited Grannies for your ongoing support and commitment.  We at G.R.O. consider you Global Heroes and thank you for your efforts!

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In Lesotho, with an overwhelming rate of HIV infection, death of parents is far too common. Many orphans are raised by grandparents who struggle to provide basic necessities, such as food, clothing and education. G.R.O.’s Orphan Crisis Kits are specially tailored to meet a growing child`s needs and are distributed by a support group of local grandmothers. Your gift will help provide a kit that includes essentials like winter clothing, food staples, paraffin for heating and cooking, school uniforms and shoes.  Give this gift.

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The World Food Program states that 56% of the population in Lesotho lives on less than $2/day. Students coming from vulnerable homes are often forced to survive on the one meal a day provided at school. Your gift of a family food basket can provide a student and his or her family with a holiday food basket through our local partnership with Anwary’s Supermarket in Hlotse-Leribe. One basket can provide a family with a two month supply of food, every bit of which provides the energy for families to focus on school, work and the holidays.  Give this gift.

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Many of the women in Lesotho suffer from HIV and seek ways to both support their treatment and provide for their families. In 2009, The G.R.O. Artisans Collective was formed in Hlotse-Leribe, Lesotho to provide HIV positive mothers with an opportunity to make a living in jewelery design and sales. Your gift of an artisan`s start-up kit includes everything needed to help a woman to start making jewelry - tools, beads, supplies, and business training with the collective. The Artisans Collective offers fair wages along with critical health care and family support benefits for its workers. Give this gift.

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The AIDS pandemic in Lesotho has left many grandmothers caring for orphaned grandchildren and sick relatives. Your gift can provide an industrious Grandmothers` Support Group in Hlotse-Leribe with basic first aid supplies, vitamins and other necessities to provide better care for families in their communities. Many grandmothers in the support group are retired nurses and already provide a tremendous amount of community support. They just need additional basic supplies that will help extend the reach and breadth of their care.  Give this gift.

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100% of donated funds for the Grandmothers` Support Group, the G.R.O. Artisans Collective, and the Family Scholarship Fund are spent directly on those Lesotho-based projects. However, the Canadian team also requires support to scale-up our advocacy, fundraising and awareness activities here in Canada. By engaging Canadians, we can spread the message about global development issues and what can be done to relieve poverty. A gift to the Canadian GROwth fund will allow us to expand our Canadian operations as we seek to establish a permanent Toronto office, extend our campaigns across Canada, and maintain our administrative and operational needs. Give this gift.

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G.R.O. relies on our local executive Board in Lesotho for valuable insight to guide our community projects and strategic planning. A strong local board in Lesotho is central to the sustainability and success of our projects. The Business and Project Development Seminar fund ensures that board members receive necessary training in governance, project management, bookkeeping and human resources management. Your gift of $50 can cover the costs of a business and project development seminar for the local executive board. Give this gift.

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I have worked for the past two summers in Lesotho as both a teacher and public health intern. Throughout my time there, I was able to have many conversations with youth about their dreams and hopes for the future. In particular, I remember one of my first days in Lesotho where I had the chance to travel to a remote village with a physician from the pediatric AIDS clinic where I worked. The physician was going to the village to give medical records back to the family of a young girl who had died of tuberculosis.  The doctor and a social worker then proceeded to test the siblings, the grandmother, and stepmother all for HIV.  Thankfully, their tests all came out negative.  Many people came from around the community to be tested too once they heard that someone from our clinic was there.  We hung out with the children of the village afterwards and spoke with two of them who were about 12 years-old.  They were in their last year of primary school. They said they want to be nurses when they grow up, but then we also found out that their families did not have enough money to send them to high school (only primary education is covered by the government of Lesotho).  Without a high school education, there was no way that these children could fulfill their dream of becoming nurses.  I was deeply saddened by this and wanted desperately to find a way to get these girls to high school. And I regretted ever having taken my own opportunities for granted.

These youth and thousands of others like them have been on my mind for the past few years and I have thought about how much a scholarship fund could do to help fulfill the promise of Basotho youth. I am so thankful for the new G.R.O. Foundation Scholarship Challenge and for the Gifts of Hope campaign. There is a dire need for funds to pay for such things as school fees, books, and computer literacy training. Giving through the G.R.O. Foundation initiatives will allow so many Basotho children that are full of potential reach their goals of moving beyond poverty and becoming what they once could only dream of.

Basotho children are wonderfully creative and talented. Day to day you can see interesting contraptions that they make to play. Anything from cars made out of wire, to instruments, to their own modes of transportation. As a teacher, I also always found my students so eager to learn. And if given an opportunity to flourish with an education, they will surely thrive.

By Sophie Kim, G.R.O. Volunteer

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