By Linda Wilkinson | Founder of Chikumbuso
Yesterday Beauty took me out on one of her visits to see a grandmother in need.
When we arrived Magadalena was sleeping on her veranda on a grass mat at the front of her house.
Beauty stirred her sleep with a pat on the back. "Mbuya (grandmother) we are here to see you."
We entered her clean tidy house and sat on furniture from earlier, better times.
I was there to hear her story and to see how Chikumbuso could help her.
Magdalena was born in 1931. She was married with 9 children, her husband worked at Lusaka airport and life was okay for a while until the AIDS epidemic. Now Magadelena is a widow with four children and her only son is very ill.
She lives in Ngombe in the house of her deceased son and cares for three grandsons, or they care for her.
Today there is no food in her house. I ask her what she dreams about and she tells me she only dreams of dying. She wakes and asks God if today will be the day. Other than that she only thinks of food.
Beauty and I go and buy her an assortment of foods, soaps, and charcoal and take it to her where she dances in delight at the feast before her.
"Today I will not sleep! I will just eat and eat!" she tells me.
As we return to Chikumbuso, Beauty reminds me of just how many grandmothers there are in Ng'ombe all with the same dream. Please help us to reach out to these women.
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