All my children have died

by Nicole Findlay

“All my children have died – nine of them – and they left me with grandchildren and great grandchildren. I have many kids at home that need food. I do not yet get a pension. I do not even have a place to have a garden now because my home is clustered with graves,” KwaNyuswa grandmother, age 51.

The stark testimonial is neither the most desolate nor exceptional account of the impact of HIV/AIDS May Chazan has borne witness to in South Africa.  Chazan, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, recorded many similar accounts in a report, Grandmotherhood Transformed: Understanding the Combined Effects of Poverty, Violence and Illness among Grandmothers in the Valley of 1000 Hills, KwaZulu-Natal. 

Between 2006 and 2008, Chazan collaborated with nurses from the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust (HACT), a South African community-based organization to conduct research on the impact of HIV/AIDS on South African women and their families.  From June to October 2008, Chazan conducted questionnaires, focus groups and in-depth interviews in settlements of the Valley of 1000 Hills, located outside Durban.

Grandmotherhood Transformed gives voice to 100 African care-givers, mostly women, who are struggling to raise orphaned children under increasingly difficult conditions. The tentacles of HIV/AIDS that have taken root in South Africa have resulted in illness or death among so many young adults in the country, leaving behind an aging generation of women with limited resources to care for their orphaned or vulnerable grandchildren.  In the midst of grieving the loss of their own children, the grandmothers are responsible for raising as many as 17 grandchildren in situations where domestic violence, poverty and chronic illness are all too common. 

“If there are ways to lobby on behalf of some of the women, by telling their stories and pointing out places where small inputs could make a big difference in their lives, then I feel that this is part of my responsibility,” said Chazan.

With so few resources available to them, the grandmothers have turned to each other for support and comfort. These community-based groups provide a glimmer of hope.

Chazan’s research includes a Canadian component. She is documenting the intersections between South-African based community support groups and an international network that includes Canadian grandmothers. The Canadian Grandmothers Campaign, organized in part by the Stephen Lewis Foundation, comprises between 5,000 to 10,000 members, raises funds and advocates on behalf of the women and children of South Africa.

With the majority of her research complete, Chazan has turned her attention to completing her thesis. She will examine the links between the “everyday struggles and mobilizations” of the South African communities and the Canadian campaign efforts. She hopes the results of her work will “provide new insights into how we build international solidarity and to what effect.”

May Chazan’s research has been made possible by a PE Trudeau Foundation scholarship and an ongoing collaboration with the Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. Mike Brklacich, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, is her supervisor.