I saw these ladies in the Canada Day parade today. Their organization is called “Oceanside Grandmothers to Grandmothers” and their website is http://oceansideg2g.ca/. They are a volunteer organization dedicated to the fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa.

More specifically, they help fundraise and raise awareness of the pre-established Stephen Lewis Foundation which is actually a pretty darn good foundation. The Stephen Lewis Foundation helps other people establish their own community-based support groups, hence the birth of the Oceanside Grandmothers to Grandmothers.

The Oceanside G2G group meet up a handful of times per year and work year-round on projects, such as the ones they have listed on their current projects page, which they sell to help fundraise monies. So far, they have raised $140,000.00… Not bad considering how relatively small our community is!

Supporting the Stephen Lewis Foundation

When it comes to AIDS and HIV, we are extremely lucky to live in North America where we have medical treatments and pharmaceuticals available to us which can prevent HIV from changing into AIDS… HIV changes into AIDS once the immune system of a sufferer is suppressed enough that the HIV patient contracts a secondary illness, such as pneumonia. Sometimes the secondary illness is treatable… Sometimes not.

Untreated, HIV and AIDS are quite horrific. The patient’s body slowly wastes away and they become incredibly emaciated… Nothing but skin and bones as their body attacks itself from the inside out. It is a painful, dreadful, and slow death. If death doesn’t save them from their painful suffering, their minds will begin wasting as well as they develop something termed AIDS dementia.

The average life span from contracting HIV to death is 10 year without proper treatment. With medicine, we can ward off death almost to the point of an average life span… And you were complaining about paying $1.50 for a chocolate bar? 😛