Garden provides income, perspective for people living with HIV

Senegalese people living with HIV/AIDS tend to their produce that provides nutritious meals and a much-needed source of revenue to help them earn enough to make a living. Photo by Richard Nyberg, USAID

It is a daily challenge for people battling the stigma of HIV/AIDS to earn the respect of their community.  To make matters worse, over 85% of the 3,000 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who seek medical care at the Ambulatory Treatment Center in Dakar struggle to get by on less that $1 a day.  USAID has been able to step in to help many of these individuals with improved nutrition and an income-generating gardening activity that boosts their self-esteem while increasing opportunities for social interaction.

Since June 2002, USAID has provided funds to the outpatient center for training, to pay for staff salaries, treatment services and care, including nutrition education and food distribution. The center also promotes voluntary counseling and testing, supervises regional ambulatory treatment centers, and lends assistance to the association of people living with HIV/AIDS, which makes visits to homes to provide care. 

With its implementing partner, Family Health International, and a nongovenrmental orgainzation, Development in Gardening, USAID began its support for the gardening activity in January 2007. HIV/AIDS patients not only benefit from the vegetables for their nutrition activities, but also have the opportunity to work in the garden and learn new gardening techniques.  Gardens in Dakar and in the southern city of Ziguinchor are now self-sustaining, producing not only enough vegetables to feed the hospital’s patients, but enough surplus to sell on the open market and generate valuable income for the PLWHA working in the garden.   

Gardeners have also been able to take the new skills and set up their own gardens at home.  “In my neighborhood, I have become a small gardening star,” says one worker who asked not to be identified.  “I share my knowledge with anyone who shows interest.”  Her mother – the only person in the neighborhood who knows her HIV status – says the small garden has proved to be a “huge relief to our family and source of pride for my daughter.”

The gardening project has provided better nutrition and greater income and has also brought PLWHA together in a productive and supportive social environment.  The solidarity and care abounding has borne fruit, as five gardening couples have married.

Mrs. M. Diop, 45, is HIV-positive, a widow and mother of two teenage children. After her husband died in 1999, she learned she was HIV-positive. Early on, she lived in seclusion for fear of being rejected by her family. She would cover her head as she made her way to her medical checkups so that no one would be able to identify her.  But since 2002, she has visited the outpatient care center and has started to live again.  “The gardening skills I have learned keep me busy and are very useful for me and for others. It’s like yesterday I was stumbling in the dark and today, I walk in the light,” she says. 

Senegal is widely viewed as one of the continent’s success stories in terms of HIV prevention. A leading donor, USAID has partnered with the government of Senegal in the area of HIV/AIDS since 1987. Currently the American people provide over $3 million annually to prevent HIV infection and provide care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS.