An international movement of activist grandmothers is changing the world and Coquitlam Gogos are part of the action.
Coquitlam Gogos will present author and photojournalist Paola Gianturco next Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Coquitlam Public Library's Poirier branch to discuss her new book Grandmother Power: A Global Phe-nomenon. The program begins with a slide presentation, followed by question-and-answer session and a book signing.
Grandmother Power features 120 grandmothers in 15 countries on five continents who are fighting poverty, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and human rights abuse. (Visit globalgrandmotherpower.com for more information.)
Gianturco, a grandmother herself, has had her work exhibited at UNESCO's Paris headquarters, the United Nations' New York headquarters, Chicago's Field Museum, San Francisco's International Museum of Women and many other venues.
All author royalties from her book will be donated to the Stephen Lewis Foundation's Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, which works with projects that support African grandmothers who are raising children orphaned by AIDS.
Books will be available for sale at the book signing; sales are being handled by Black Bond Books, which is donating 10% of its profits to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Coquitlam Gogos ("gogo" means grandmother in Zulu) is one of 240 groups of grandmothers and "grand-others" across Canada that support the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. The campaign has raised more than $16.5 million for community-based projects providing African grandmothers and orphaned children with psychosocial support, micro-credit loans, school fees and uniforms, shelter and activities such as community gardens and poultry, pig and goat rearing.
The locals are also part of a local network of Grandmothers Campaign groups called Greater Van Gogos. For more information, visit www.grandmotherscampaign.org.
The Oct. 3 program is free to attend but space is limited; register by calling 604-937-4142. The Poirier library branch is located at 575 Poirier St., Coquitlam, across from Centennial secondary school.
