How a man’s love for his grandmother sparked a powerful project supporting children through the AIDS epidemic — and how grandmothers gathering became the heart of a community in healing.
On a warm day several years ago, Twesigye Jackson Kaguri received a simple request from two grandmothers: “We want to join the group that meets under the mango tree.”
“Their words were like music,” he told me. They stood in stark contrast to Jackson’s early days in his hometown village of Nyakagezi, Uganda, when he went door-to-door, practically begging grandparents to open their homes to children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.
“Jackson, we have no money for food,” the grandmothers would often respond. “How will we will feed them?”
“Nyaka will,” Jackson would respond — Nyaka being the nonprofit he was in the process of creating.
“Who will pay for their health insurance and medical bills?” they asked.
“We will,” Jackson responded.
“Then what do you need from us?”
“We need you to love them.”
“We want them to feel your love, the irreplaceable care and protection of a grandmother’s love,” Jackson said.
“Okay,” they agreed. “Let’s try it out.”
Fast forward to today: The Nyaka AIDS Orphan project has helped 92,148 move into the homes of 23,037 grandmothers.
Nyaka provides workshops, training, and microloans for grandmothers to start businesses. Every two weeks, participating grandmothers meet at a community center or a spot in nature to gather and learn new skills.
Grace Tugume, 83, is a grandmother who works closely with Nyaka. A mother of nine, everything changed in 1994 when Grace lost her husband of 30 years and suddenly became the sole provider and caretaker for her family.
“I did it all by myself,” she said. “It was hard, but I love raising children.”
But Grace wouldn’t have to do it alone forever.
In 2007, Nyaka’s program reached Grace’s town of Kitorero, Kambuga. For Grace, it became the community and economic support she’d spent years hoping for.
“To gather together is a great thing. We would always wish Friday would come so we could meet, greet each other, and really start singing and dancing our native dance,” Grace said.
She still remembers that very first meeting.
“We were a small group, and we were happy,” Grace said. “After meeting, sitting, and praying we looked around at each other. I noticed one grandma who had tangled hair didn’t have a comb. So I brought combs to the next meeting.” That quiet gesture set a tone of care for the group that has endured. Today, Grace is a Grandmother Advocate and committee member for Nyaka. She offers counsel to grandmothers and mothers from her many years of experience.
“Counseling is the best thing,” Grace said. “Something tells you that you are still useful, that you should never think of yourself as rubbish. No way! We counsel each other that we should wash our produce, our homes, and eat good foods because we love ourselves! That counsels someone’s mind. You know you are still a person among the community.”
That sense of renewed purpose also extended into practical action. Grace receive microfinance support from Nyaka to sell her woven mats, which has helped her family build financial security.
By stepping back into motherhood, these grandmothers are breathing new life into a community struck by tremendous loss and grief.
“To be a mother as a grandmother, you need three things: Passion, dedication, and love,” Grace said.
The person behind Nyaka is Twesigye Jackson Kaguri. He has been named CNN Hero, Heifer Hero, Global Citizen, and Power of One by Time Magazine. He’s an international award winner, an author of seven books, and a board member here at GlobalGiving!
He’s also a grandson.
He remembers the day he fell from a eucalyptus tree as a boy—carried to the hospital, blood dripping onto the earth, while friends and neighbors feared he might not survive. Many shouted with fear, “Help, Jackson is going to die!”
Fortunately, his grandmother’s house was on the way.
She came outside, looked at his deep wound, and declared with quiet certainty, “He is not going to die.” Her words gave Jackson no choice but to believe.
The hospital had no surgeon at the time. It took three days for one to arrive, and by then, debris from the fall still lingered in his open wound. Jackson spent six difficult months in the hospital, with only one constant comfort: his grandmother’s visits each evening.
Rain or shine, Mariza Rukwira came, reading a different passage from the Book of Psalms every time.
“Grandma, how do you know I will get better?” he asked one evening.
“My child,” she replied, “God created you for a purpose. You are not going anywhere until then.”
In 2001, Jackson’s grandmother passed away—the same year Jackson began going door-to-door to find grandmothers to offer other children the same love he received from his grandmother.
“These children just watched their parents, who were once their bigger-than-life superheroes, shrink in front of their eyes,” Jackson said. “To die of AIDS is a long, traumatic death. These children saw that and now walk past their tombs on their way to school.”
Jackson understood that these children needed someone to protect them, believe in them, and offer hope—just as his grandmother did during one of his scariest moments.
That’s the kind of support every child deserves.
We’re proud to have hosted this project on our platform since 2011 and be guided by the leadership of Jackson on our board. But their work continues, and we hope to continue supporting this project so it can live on in these communities.
Help Jackson and Granny Grace bring more grandmotherly love to children who lost their parents in Uganda.
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