Cycle Tour 2025 August 10 - September 7

The 19the VG4A Cycle Tour concluded with a finale at Mile 0 on September 7. The 70 cyclists peddled hard to raise funds for the partner organizations in Africa and to meet their personal goals.

With changes to USAID, the funds we provide are needed more than ever. By the finale, we had raised over $207,000 - donations are open until the end of the year. Click the "Donate to Cycle Tour" button above to support the Grandmother to Grandmother campaign.

Members can view more photos on the members only page.

View the CHEK News article and video "Pedalling with purpose: Victoria Grandmothers for Africa 19th annual cycle tour kicks off" 

In Week 3, CHEK News joined us again.

WHO WE ARE

Victoria Grandmothers for Africa

The Victoria Grandmothers for Africa (VG4A) is currently a group of over 150 women who are part of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign of the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF).

The campaign’s purpose is to increase awareness, build solidarity, and raise funds for community-led organizations (CLOs) in subSaharan Africa. These CLOs support grandmothers in Africa and their communities and amplify their voices and expertise as they work to build a healthy future for children whose parents died of AIDS-related diseases..

See how we work HERE

Find out how to join HERE

WHO OUR PARTNERS ARE

In Tanzanian pastoralist communities, Maasai girls are traditionally married off by the time they are 15, and only 1 in 100 girls gains access to secondary education. This dearth of education leads to ongoing generations of women who suffer early and unwanted pregnancies, HIV infection, gender-based violence, illiteracy, poverty and hunger. The Maasai Women Development Organization (MWEDO), has been working to get and keep girls in school since 1999. It was founded by three local women who had themselves struggled to access education and combat stigma around female independence, initiative and protection. They know, without a shadow of doubt, that girls’ education is one of the best, if not only, forces of real and lasting change for women.

To read more continue here.

More stories from Africa are HERE

Laurie and Bonnie's blog

VG4A members Laurie and Bonnie travelled with 14 other members of the Grandmothers Campaign and SLF staff to South Africa and Eswatini. Click the link above for the blog of their stories and adventures, and read about the people and groups they met.

"The SLF is facing the greatest crisis since the nightmare days of the spread of AIDS in the 1990s and 2000s. I refuse to dissemble or beat around the bush. With the suspension and cutbacks of foreign aid, the Trump administration’s unhinged and random destructive acts put countless numbers of our projects in Africa, and the people they serve, at risk.

The uncertainty, the ambiguity, the wilful chaos have resulted in fear and confusion on the ground. As our Executive Director, Meg French, has said: “Lives will be lost.” Our best contribution at this perilous moment is to attempt to replace the resources that Trump has expunged. Please give what you are able."

— Stephen Lewis, SLF Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Board and former UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa

#AIDS once wiped out an entire generation, and now with the ruthless execution of U.S. executive orders, once more, we are condemning people to die.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation surveyed our partners in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.    Its findings are devastating.  Read the full report  

Will you make a gift to respond to the emergency facing our partners and the people they serve?   In this moment of crisis, please support the Stephen Lewis Foundation through

this link

Latest news about the disastrous, inhumane USAID cuts:

CBC As It Happens July 31  at 29:00 - SLF Executive Director Meg French discusses the $1Million Donation by the The Slaight Family Foundation

The Guardian "UNAids chief ‘shaken and disgusted’ by US cuts that will mean millions more deaths"

The Guardian "Obama and Bush call Trump’s USAID closure a travesty" 

CHEK News “People Are Going to Die”

Vic News. "They've Abandoned Africa" 

SLF FAQ's.  Frequently Asked Questions about the Crisis

VG4A Summer Social August 20 at Gorge Park

Members - see more photos in the "Members Only" section

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