The Great Granny Revolution

Press Coverage

When Wakefield Met South Africa

by: Don Butler
for: The Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, May 5, 2007

There’s a scene near the end of The Great Granny Revolution, Robert and Brenda Rooney’s new documentary about the Wakefield Grannies and the movement they helped inspire, that speaks to the special qualities of the eclectic Gatineau Hills community north of Ottawa.

In the scene, Rose Letwaba, the South African nurse whose visit to Wakefield three years ago started everything, is speaking to a full house at the village’s United Church. "If everyone was like the people of Wakefield," she tells the audience, with heartfelt sincerity, "the world would be a better place to live in."

As founder of the Alex Gogos, a group of African grandmothers who are raising AIDS orphans in the Johannesburg slum of Alexandra Township, Ms. Letwaba knows better than most how exceptional the Wakefield Grannies — and the community that has so magnificently supported them — really are.

Now, thanks to the 80-minute documentary by the Rooneys, who live about 20 kilometres north of Wakefield in Lac-des-Loups, the rest of the world can share in the discovery. The film, nearly three years in the making, premieres with two screenings today at a special May Day celebration in Wakefield hosted by the village’s now-famous granny group.

"I think it’s an inspiring film in some ways, and it’s a good news story," says Robert Rooney. His wife Brenda, who narrates the film and is one of its central characters, calls it endearing. "The thing is, the Wakefield Grannies are rather amusing. There are so many funny moments."

In many ways, the film is a labour of love. Brenda Rooney was one of the first people Norma Geggie called when she decided to form the Wakefield Grannies in 2004 after hearing Ms. Letwaba describe the plight of impoverished African grandmothers forced to shoulder the burden of raising millions of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Like nearly a dozen other women approached by Ms. Geggie, an 82-year-old dynamo, Ms. Rooney swiftly agreed and, almost overnight, the Wakefield Grannies were born. They paired up with the Alex Gogos, and have since raised thousands of dollars to support them.

Last spring, the Stephen Lewis Foundation picked up the idea, launching its Grandmother to Grandmother campaign. Today, there are more than 150 grandmother groups in Canada and the United States, including a dozen in the Ottawa area alone. Collectively, they have raised $1 million for African grandmothers.

Unlike the Wakefield group, most granny groups are not paired directly with African grandmothers. Rather, the Stephen Lewis Foundation funnels the money they raise to those in greatest need. But the Wakefield Grannies were the trailblazers, the first to recognize the immense privation of African grandmothers and take action.

Right from their first meeting, Robert Rooney was there with his camera. A former theatre director who has also worked in television, he immediately recognized that the Wakefield Grannies were in the vanguard of a nascent movement of late-in-life activism by women with education and skills far beyond those of previous generations.

Whenever the Grannies met, Mr. Rooney was there to record their deliberations. It took months for the women, some shy and self-conscious, to get used to the camera. But eventually they learned to ignore it.

Last spring, the Rooneys travelled to South Africa to film the Alex Gogos in their humble homes. Their stories, both painful and inspiring, provide some of the film’s most riveting moments. When several Wakefield Grannies attended a gathering of Canadian and African grandmothers last summer in Toronto, that too became part of the story. And when Ms. Letwaba and three African grandmothers visited Wakefield last August, the Rooneys were able to bring the tale full circle.

The result, distilled from more than 60 hours of film, is a unique record of the evolution of an initially modest undertaking that has blossomed into something much more important. Though the project started out as a film about AIDS like their previous documentary, Condoms, Fish and Circus Tricks, the Rooneys say it changed form as it progressed.

"I found out I wasn’t making a film about AIDS," Mr. Rooney says. "I was making a film about women. It was about the relationship of these two groups of women and how they influence each other, how they spur each other on, how they change each other’s lives." And, adds Brenda Rooney, it’s also a story about Wakefield, a place with a vibrant community spirit and more than its share of writers, painters, artists and people who have worked in places like Africa.

Wakefield was critical to the Grannies’ success, she says. "It was the right time in history with women at this point, and it was the right place. It somehow caught magic." The film reflects its central role, her husband says. "Mostly it’s a celebration of the life of this village."

The village’s residents comprise the supporting cast. "So many people are going to see themselves in it," says Mr. Rooney. "It’s a cast of thousands."

The version of The Great Granny Revolution that will screen today is not quite complete. Sound mastering still must be done, a step the Rooneys chose to put off until the community has a chance to provide feedback. Based on that, changes are still possible.

Mr. Rooney, haggard after 36 hours without sleep in the final editing push, says he’s too tired to be nervous about the community’s reaction, though he adds: "I think they’re going to love it."

Even so, he concedes that it’s a challenge to make a film about your own community, "because you’re going to have to live in that community."

It can also be problematic to make a documentary in which you are a key participant, says Brenda Rooney.

"There are conflicts," she acknowledges. "There were occasions when Robert would rather see us deal with something in a more dramatic way perhaps than I wanted to.

"I had an inclination to make us always look good. I didn’t want our terrible warts showing." In the end, though, "all the warts made the film," she says.

One of the hardest tasks was editing the Grannies’ discussions, Mr. Rooney says, "They never shut up. They’re all talking at once, so it’s very hard to edit them. That has been a nightmare."

Since forming in the fall of 2004, the women in the Grannies have grown incredibly, says Mr. Rooney.

"When they started, a lot of them had very little interest in any kind of global movement. They were happy just to be connected to this little group of gogos in Alexandra. But they were sort of thrust into a leadership role in this movement, and they’ve taken it on."

In particular, Norma Geggie has risen to the challenge, he says, proselytizing to many audiences. "She’s responsible for probably 15 groups that have formed just herself."

If anything, Mr. Rooney is even more impressed by the journey taken by the African grandmothers. When Rose Letwaba formed the Alex Gogos, he says, "they didn’t know what the hell was going on with their lives. They had no idea what was killing their children. They didn’t know anything about AIDS.

"Now they are like spokesmen for the issue. They’re able to take that on because they’ve got the confidence of knowing there are women in First World countries who are their friends."

Mr. Rooney’s favourite scene shows one of the African grandmothers, raising four orphans in her one-room home, who keeps the kids’ toothbrush under lock and key because to her, it is such a valuable item. "That tells you about their relative wealth."

Later this month, Brenda Rooney will embark for Western Canada for a series of one-off theatrical screenings of the film. So far, 13 have been confirmed, in places like Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria, and Vernon and Nelson, B.C. This fall, she’ll do a similar tour through southern Ontario. Showings are set in London, Waterloo, Guelph and the Hamilton area. A television showing is also a possibility — based on the film’s website trailer, two broadcasters have expressed interest.

And, it hardly needs saying, there’ll be a screening for the African grandmothers too. If Brenda Rooney has her way, before the year is out the film will be screened at a fundraising event in South Africa, with the Alex Gogos and at least some of the Wakefield Grannies in attendance.

"Then," she says delightedly, "we’ll just have a party."

The Great Granny Revolution will be shown today at the United Church in Wakefield at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10.