AEGiS-IFRC: Food security initiatives produce a new kind of a woman

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Food security initiatives produce a new kind of a woman

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 8, 2006
Varaidzo Dongozi, Zimbabwe Red Cross Society

As the world commemorates the International Women's Day on the 8th of March 2006, the status of women in society, particularly those living with HIV and AIDS continues to be marred by stigma. Early HIV and AIDS messages stereotyped women as the sole transmitters of HIV, while men were warned to be wary of such women. In most Africa countries, where patriarchy is dominate, this reinforced the image of women as being to blame for the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Over the years, several communities and organizations have undertaken campaigns to de-stigmatize this association of women and HIV and to communicate the correct information about the transmission, spread and management of HIV and AIDS, and the role of every society member, including women in this effort. Such efforts continue to educate communities on stigma and raise the status of women. Women living with HIV and AIDS, under the Community Based Care programme of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society continue to raise their own stature in their communities through the production of their own food and medicinal remedies.

Patricia, Mandizvidza, (19), of the Zvimba Home Based care project says that the success of the nutrition garden that she has established has raised her status in her community.

"People used to shun me as my mother was HIV positive, but now because my garden produces food all the time, they come to beg for food from me", she said. Patricia, whose mother eventually succumbed to AIDS in late 2005, said that the food that she generates from her nutrition garden has helped her neighbours to realize that she was still an important member of society.

Simple and accessible crops and nutritional gardens also now provide a new lease of life for these women, living with HIV and AIDS. The establishment of the herbal gardens is helping women by providing themselves with more accessible remedies for opportunistic infections and a more nutritious diet, and talking control of their own lives, a step from being mere recipients of aid from well-wishers, and pity and scorn from unsympathetic members of the community.

The herbal project has become a rich source of confidence and hope for most clients, particularly those in the rural areas where there is limited access to ordinary drugs and the required cash to purchase medical remedies.

Agnes Mpumbu, a widow who has been living with HIV and AIDS, for the past 8 years said that the accessibility of the herbs had helped her in many different ways, chief being the fact that now she was able to just access the herbs from a garden which is within her reach, both financially and in terms of the short distance from her house to her garden.

"I used to get stressed each time I was ill because of lack of medicine, but now I just walk into the garden," she said.

She said that herbs were helping her to such an extend that her neighbours who used to avoid her were now approaching her for herbal remedies for common diseases such as colds and diarrhoea, which is a stark contrast to her previous status of a recipient of pity. "I now command a little respect in my village" she said.

She is one of the members of the Kumboedza Support group, a grouping of women and men living with HIV and AIDS. The support group initiated a herbal and nutrition garden in 1994, as a first line of defence of natural and affordable remedies against opportunistic infections. To date this has been replicated in 26 other home-based care projects under the HIV and AIDS Programme of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society. The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, since 2005 has been supporting families affected by HIV and AIDS in the 27 home based care projects with the establishment of nutrition and herbal gardens through the Protracted Relief Programme (PRP).

In addition the PRP programme is also supporting families in the production of food at household level to promote food security through a seed and agricultural support package to the beneficiaries, with the support of the British Red Cross.

The Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society Mrs. Emma Kundishora said that; "Food security was essential in both the prevention of HIV and AIDS and fighting stigma. Our experience has been that most women are forced into unsafe sexual relations because of food insecurity." She added that the availability of food at household level also promoted the dignity of the families affected by HIV in the communities they lived in.

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