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Rose Letwaba, co-founder of the Granny Group of Alexandra, South Africa, speaks at the Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC

Rose Letwaba, psychiatric nurse at Eastbank Clinic in Alexandra, near Johannesburg, South Africa, and co-founder of the Granny Group, is one of the special guest speakers during the Montreal Children's Hospital's Symposium on Psychiatric Breakthroughs.

Media may attend the symposium or may arrange to interview Ms. Letwaba at another time. The complete agenda of the Children's Symposium on Psychiatric Breakthroughs is available here.

Ms. Letwaba, along with Nina Minde, a Montreal psychologist, and Dr. Klaus Minde, a child psychiatrist at the Children's, started the Granny Group in 2000. The AIDS pandemic in South Africa obliged many grandmothers to raise the country's orphaned children. The grandmothers received little financial support from the children's families or from the South African government, leaving many lost and distraught. The Granny Group has become a source of great comfort and strength for participants. In fact, Ms. Letwaba now takes care of 35 grannies and will soon bring the Granny Group concept to other places where the AIDS pandemic has forced grandmothers to raise their orphaned grandchildren.

In recognition of her work, in 2002 Ms. Letwaba was named the best nurse in Gauteng Province (where Alexandra is located) and the second best in the whole country. In 2003 she was nominated for the South African Woman of the Year. More recently, Rose and some of the grannies were part of a documentary by Canadian filmmaker Judy Jackson, who has been accompanying Stephen Lewis on some of his travels as the UN envoy for AIDS in Africa. It was shown on CBC's The Nature of Things this past January.

Ms. Letwaba is visiting the Children's in celebration of the hospital's 100th anniversary. Her visit was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Montreal Children's Foundation. She will be in Canada until October 22.