{"id":691174,"date":"2026-05-24T19:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T19:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/691174\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T19:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T19:22:18","slug":"african-grandmas-light-up-the-runway-at-annual-charity-event-in-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/691174\/","title":{"rendered":"African grandmas light up the runway at annual charity event in Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Some Winnipeg grandmas hit the catwalk this weekend to raise funds for a charity helping girls and women living in rural southern Africa.<\/p>\n

About a dozen women paid tribute to their African heritage at the fashion show in Charleswood Saturday, strutting and dancing down a runway while wearing traditional garments.<\/p>\n

The show was the headlining event of a festival held by non-profit The Grace and Nelly Project, a local charity helping women and girls in rural Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

Cathleen Shawa said modelling at the event was an opportunity to help girls have better childhood than women like her had while growing up in the southern Africa country.<\/p>\n

\"ADeSouza-Huletey wore a vivid West African print attire ‘with a modern flair’ to the runway. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey\/CBC)<\/p>\n

“There are some girls who leave school because they don’t have sanitary products,” she said. “We know education is the corner stone of a better life. So we need to do that for them.”<\/p>\n

But besides that, Shawa said it’s also an opportunity to “dress up.”<\/p>\n

“I feel like Tyra Banks” walking the runway, Shawa said. “I feel like a million bucks.”<\/p>\n

Ghanaian grandmother Juanita DeSouza-Huletey said she felt younger as she prepped for the catwalk inside a makeshift dressing room at Charleswood United Church Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

“Supporting anything with women, I’m all for it,” she said. <\/p>\n

Celebrating African heritage and grandmothers\"AOrganizers said the event was as much a celebration of the community’s culture and matriarchs as an opportunity to raise money for charity. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey\/CBC)<\/p>\n

DeSouza-Huletey said that as a fashion fan, she likes to teach people about Ghanaian culture through her outfits.<\/p>\n

For Saturday’s show, she put on a vivid West African wax print outfit “with a modern flair,” opting for matching pants and vest instead of a more traditional dress.<\/p>\n

“Beads are something that is very traditional in almost all the African countries, so I made sure there is a little bit of beads on this,” DeSouza-Huletey said.<\/p>\n

“This is for girls. This is to build confidence. This is to get them to know who they are.”<\/p>\n

The AfriFest event is held annually around Africa Day on May 25. Besides the fashion show, this year’s lineup included drumming performances, an artwork exhibit and food.<\/p>\n

\"AHlezi Sy wore Senegalese clothes to the runway, including a coat made by her niece. (Katie Lambe\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The Grace and Nelly project was inspired by organizer Ruvimbo Chimutza’s own grandmothers, who helped their communities immensely in Africa. She said the festival is an opportunity for the diverse African community in Winnipeg to celebrate their culture \u2014 and their matriarchs.<\/p>\n

“They’re all our grandmothers,” Chimutza said. <\/p>\n

“It is so important that we honour them, because they raised our parents. They raised us. They love us. They show us strength.”<\/p>\n

Hlezi Sy, who’s from Zimbabwe but whose husband is from Senegal, wore Senegalese clothes to the runway, including a coat made by her niece, who’s a fashion designer.<\/p>\n

\"YoungParticipants say they hope the fashion show inspires young girls to be proud of their heritage. (Katie Lambe\/CBC)<\/p>\n

“She made it lined with a heavier fabric inside because she knows we have cooler climates here,” Sy said. <\/p>\n

“I love dressing up in African clothes,” she said. “It’s a reminder to myself, to the people around me, specially my children, to be proud of their heritage.”<\/p>\n

WATCH | Grandmothers walk the runway in Winnipeg to raise money for girls in Africa:\"\"<\/p>\n

Grandmothers from African community walk the runway in Winnipeg<\/p>\n

Grandmothers from Winnipeg’s African community dressed to the nines and strutted down the runway at a fashion show on Saturday. They want to inspire younger women and girls and show them to be proud of their culture, but they also modeled for a bigger cause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-691174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}