The devastation wrought by AIDS on an entire generation in Africa brought two groups of grandmothers together this week, in Wakefield, Que.

Norma Geggie, founder of the Wakefield Grannies, started the charity group to support African grandmothers who had lost their children to the disease.

That lost generation has left behind an estimated 12 million orphans, more than half of them now taken care of by their grandmothers.

"The only thing we're thinking about now is our grandchildren, who are crying 'Where's mommy now, when is she coming back?'" Petronella Makhanya, of Alexandra, South Africa, told CTV News.

She lost her daughter to AIDS six years ago and now raises her two grandchildren, along with two other orphans.

For two years the Wakefield Grannies had sent financial assistance and letters of support to grandmothers like Makhanya, but only met their African friends this week.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation funded the trip so the African grandmothers could meet their supporters, and take part in the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

"We've exchanged pictures of course, and letters and so on, and that has brought us close, but this has been so special," said Geggie.

The Wakefield Grannies held a farewell luncheon for their friends on Wednesday to mark the end of the visit. For many, it was difficult to say goodbye.

"I think I will cry the whole night tonight," said African grandmother Magdalene. "I won't sleep."

Her friend Brenda Rooney said the meeting has reinforced the importance of her group's work.

"When I first started working with the Grannies, I believed the most important thing we could do was just send them money, and it wasn't until I started to receive letters from Magdalene that I started to understand that there really is so much more," said Rooney.

The Wakefield Grannies was one of the first Canadian charity groups to help African grandmothers, and now they are joined by other organizations across the country as part of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign.

"The grandmothers are under tremendous duress," said Stephen Lewis, the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. "They have courage and resilience but they are impoverished."

With a report by CTV's Rosemary Thompson