Plucky Granny paddles her kayak through Lock 35, Lock 34 and Lock 32

Luci Dilkus was alone in her kayak, bouncing on bigger and bigger waves in a slate-grey Lake Simcoe, and the wind was roaring. Her husband was just a tiny spec on the shoreline. The horizon, blurred by the waves and clouds in every other direction, and Luci’s heart was pumping!

“It was so fun!” Dilkus laughs. “Boy, I felt like I was on a rodeo, the waves were so big!” 

Dilkus, from Tiny, Ontario, is a 70-year-old grandmother mid-way through what she has come to call The Epic Paddle To Picton.  Her plan was to paddle from her home in Tiny to Picton in Prince Edward County via the Trent-Severn Waterway. It’s a trek around 500km long, through 15 lakes and 44 historic locks.

It is a journey she has wanted to do for a long time, beginning with a notion to visit family in Picton by taking the waterways all the way from her home to theirs. But she needed the right push to get started.

She found that inspiration in a movement called Grandmothers to Grandmothers.

This campaign aims to support grandmothers across sub-Saharan Africa who stepped in to raise a generation of children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS crisis that claimed millions of lives from the 1980s-2000s and has ongoing consequences today.

The Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign connects grandmothers, grandothers and allies across Canada with those in need in Africa, helping to fund critical services and holistic care for families affected by HIV.

“Right now, the funding for international medical support has been cut down to nothing,” Dilkus says. “So African grandmothers need our support more than ever.”

Dilkus hopes to raise money in support of African grandmothers. So far, she has raised $1,600

“I am not an athlete or even particularly active,” Dilkus says, “I’m just an ordinary grandmother. But I’m determined to complete my epic paddle!”

Last year, Dilkus kayaked from Sand Castle Beach in Tiny and got as far as Big Chute on the Trent-Severn Waterway. 

This year, on August 9, 10, and 11, she achieved her goal to get as far as Bobcaygeon.

She found a community of cheerleaders in Grandmothers to Grandmothers, and she stayed for the three days of her Locks 35, 34, and 32 adventure in the home of a member of the local Grannies Group, Fenelon Falls Grannies for Grannies.

“Some days I think about the distance and say, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’” Dilkus laughed. “But then I surprise myself, and every time I add nine or 10 kilometers to my distance, I am so thrilled.”

Dilkus is on a solo mission to support a community of people who are thousands of miles away and dealing with a tragedy that’s difficult to wrap one’s head around. But a grandmother is a grandmother, whether in Tiny or Tanzania. Dilkus’ journey proves just how strong they truly are.

Support Luci Dilkus and help her raise $1,000 for African grandmothers. Click here to donate. 

Learn more about The Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, here.