Uniting for food security and proper nutrition in the face of HIV/AIDS
In English they say ‘united we stand’. The people of Ketembeyi say ‘agali awamu’. Faced with the challenge of a food shortage food and proper nutrition in a community where more and more people were suffering from or because of HIV/AIDS, the people of Kitembeyi village, in Kiboga district, Central Uganda decided to unite. 
Led by 72-year-old Kambazza Emeriko, who is a traditional healer, a group of people who were infected and affected by HIV/AIDS formed themselves into an association-Kitemebeyi Association: Agali Awamu.
Kambazza says the now 35 member group started with counseling each other on how to be strong and live positively, caring for the sick, avoid selling of land and to plant food and make investments their children would depend on when the parents die.
Food Nutrition for AIDS Patients
Despite the need for a well balanced diet,, many of the HIV positive people could not afford to buy food, since the little money they had was being prioritized on buying medication for treatment.
As more community members got sickly, Kambaza says there was a general lack of food in the homes of those suffering from AIDS. Since many of the HIV positive people are the breadwinners in homes, severe sickness meant that they were no longer available to do farming, the almost exclusive source of food in this village.
Group Garden by People Living with AIDS
“That is why we decided to start a garden for the group. We started growing rice, maize, groundnuts, beans, nakati (greens) and we would share the food. Then we decided to add a garden project in each of the members’ homes and have a main garden for the group. The garden and food policy has helped us to treat and support our patients. Members take food to patients who don’t have food. They just come in our garden and take such patients food, as well as our sick members,” says Kambaza, the chairperson of the association. He says he got the idea after attending a training THETA , an organization that brings together traditional healers and medical practitioners, an effort in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Resty Naziiwa is among the members and head of the group’s garden, she says “The garden has helped provide the much needed food. We have been able to join together, plant enough to eat and sell some to get money, which can help us. We have been putting in a lot of effort. We work three days of every week in the group garden and three days in our individual home gardens. We have been planting most crops on rotational basis depending on seasons.”
It is this spirit of hard work and participation that seems to have encouraged THETA to give the group 1.4million shillings to improve and expand the group garden.
“Members are now very happy to participate because unlike in the past when members would come and work in the group garden free of charge, now we pay some money to those who work in our garden. It has also become an income generating activity as well as providing us with constant supply of food. These days, we even sell some of the food to get some money for emergence to cater for some of the members in case they get severely sick,” Kambaza says.
Caring for HIV/AIDS Orphans
The group gardening and food policy have also helped the group members to care for the over 60 orphans in their different homes. Based on their efforts, THETA gave them two heifers which inspired members to collected money to buy an additional cow. The cows now provide the community with milk, which is mostly given to those members who are found to be the most in need whether due to health, or for financial reasons.
Nutritious Foods as Medicine
In addition to providing daily food, the farming policy has come in handy in this community’s efforts against HIV/AIDS.
“We have found that some of the food can be used as medicine. Like greens, nakati and especially ground nuts. We found that the nuts are very good for kids who are HIV positive and young children in general when prepared fresh from the garden, cooked to near ready. They are very nutritious and boost a patient’s blood,” reveals Kambazza.
Salongo Edward Kabenge, one of the members of the Kitembeyi Association says that as a result of the group’s efforts to promote good nutrition, constant availability of food and income generating projects, he has started a poultry project, which is helping him eat eggs and raise money regularly. “I have 150 broilers(?) and I get income from the eggs they lay on daily basis. At least I’m assured of that income,” he says.
Working Together Against HIV/AIDS, Poverty
While they came together and have grown a considerable amount of maize to enable all of them have food to eat now and keep to eat in the near future, the association’s general secretary, Enoch Serunyiko says they are faced with a challenge of maize milling. The cost of milling and the distance to the nearest maize mill are proving to be a challenge.
“The nearest maize mill is more than 6miles away. Milling 20kgs of maize costs one thousand eight hundred shillings (1, 800/=), which many members can’t afford. That is why we are appealing to be helped with a maize-milling machine here so that we solve this problem. Otherwise the food we are growing may end up not being that helpful due to failure to mill it,” says Serunyiko.
But that will not stop them from growing food for now. This March season they planted maize and cassava. All evidence of what a united effort (agali awamu) for a good cause can do while adding to Uganda’s vital fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The author, Gerald Businge, visited their group garden, which is about 7 acres.