Vital People is brought to you in partnership with the Victoria Foundation.<\/p>\n
The Victoria Grandmothers for Africa has grown to more than 150 members, and cyclist Peggy Frank has been a part of it since the beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got involved because I live with HIV, and I just felt like it was very unjust the way that we were able to access medication in Canada and people in Africa were not,\u201d Frank says.<\/p>\n
Pedalling with a purpose, they\u2019ve raised more than $2 million since 2006 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation<\/a>\u2018s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign to help grandmothers taking care of grandchildren in AIDS-ravaged Africa.<\/p>\n And this year, the fundraising is more important than ever due to the Trump administration\u2019s devastating USAID cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you begin cutting the community organizations that are helping so much and supported by the grandmothers, that the ripple effect throughout their communities is going to be huge,\u201d says Tory Stevens of the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa. <\/p>\n Watch the report below:<\/p>\n Clinics have been closing and medication isn\u2019t being given out, which threatens to undo decades of hard-fought progress in the HIV movement.<\/p>\n \u201cIncredibly heartbreaking!\u201d Frank says. \u201cJust knowing that it\u2019s HIV medication that keeps me alive, and knowing that medication now creates a situation where the virus is non-transmissible, so under medication, it creates a very safe world.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe hear from Africa that they\u2019re afraid we\u2019re going to get back to the 90s and of course, that\u2019s devastating,\u201d Stevens adds. But also it\u2019s going to come \u2014 it\u2019s going to come to North America in a big way as it spreads.\u201d<\/p>\n Non-profits had been working towards a goal of ending AIDS by 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of uncertainty,\u201d says Bonnie Yarish of the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa. <\/p>\n Bonnie Yarish went to Africa in May with the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and she says it was gratifying to see the difference Canadians are making, despite all the uncertainty.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was pretty amazing!\u201d Yarish says. \u201cYou know, we\u2019ve worked hard to support and to raise funds, and it was really gratifying to see the work that\u2019s being done in Africa and to meet the people that we are helping.\u201d<\/p>\n