|
|
Benin: Aids Stripping Farmers of Their Land
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
25 October 2007
Posted to the web 25 October 2007
Cotonou
Comlan Houessou certainly knows what he is talking about when it comes to the impact of AIDS on rural communities. He is a farmer in Benin who has lost everything because of HIV: the respect of his neighbours, his savings and his land. He is now fighting to rebuild his life.
Just five years ago, Houessou had two hectares of land in the Couffo region of southwest Benin. He inherited the land from his family and grew corn, cassava and cotton on it to meet the needs of his two wives and their six children.
In 2003, however, his health began to deteriorate. "It started with headaches. I told myself that it would pass, but they got worse", he told IRIN/PlusNews at the conference 'From research to Action: mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture and food security in West Africa', which took place at the start of October in Cotonou, Benin.
His relatives attributed his illness to witchcraft, so Houessou went initially to a traditional healer, to try and relieve his pain. Many months of visits forced him to sell off his land bit by bit, which he was in no fit state to farm in any case.
"I had to pay for my treatment, giving goats as offerings. At first I used my savings but when they weren't enough and I had to sell my land", reported Houessou, 42.
Houessou's health was deteriorating by the day and he ended up in hospital. After a few months, he was bed ridden and was becoming weaker and weaker but still did not know what was wrong with him. Then he overheard a conversation between two doctors.
"I heard one doctor say to another, when referring to me: 'the one with HIV' ", he said. "I made a scene and decided to leave the hospital and go home. Then I went and got tested and it confirmed that I did indeed have HIV".
"I think that they [the doctors] hadn't told me about it because they had tested me without my consent. They could have suggested that I take the test once they knew though!" he said.
He was immediately put on antiretrovirals (ARV) drugs, the medication that lengthens and improves the lives of people living with HIV. Houessou was then confined to his house, especially since his wives were also infected with HIV, and faced rejection from his community.
"My neighbours knew and they avoided us, my wives and me", he told us. "One morning, my wives cooked 10 kilos of rice to sell at the market, but some young people blocked their way with tree snags and forced them throw the rice on the ground".
Thanks to the ARV treatment, Houessou slowly got strong again and decided to fight it, for himself and for others in his situation.
"I started to openly report on it and work with others to raise public awareness of the problems facing people who are infected, particularly in rural environments where there is little information on the epidemic", he explained.
Now he heads the Benin Network of associations of people living with HIV, which comprises 46 organisations and has more than 45,000 supporters - people infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, many of whom are from rural areas- Houessou is fighting for social and economic rehabilitation for people who are HIV positive, many of whom have lost everything.
"Often, people are exhausted before they are even tested for HIV and they have used up their resources and sold their land in an attempt to get treated", he explained. "When they finally go to get tested, therefore, people have no further resources and the majority of them are poor people. This is a real problem in Benin".
The stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, particularly an issue in rural areas, is another major concern for Houessou, because one of the consequences of this is that people who are infected are cautious about sharing their tests results with their partners.
He feels that this is exacerbated by ongoing traditions, such as polygamy and widow inheritance.
"When an infected man with two or three wives dies, and his wives then have to marry the brother [of the deceased] who himself may already have two or three wives, without them realising [their HIV positive status], the number of people becoming infected is multiplied", he remarked.
The current difficult socio-economic climate is furthering the practice of inheriting women, says Houessou.
|
"If the husband leaves land when he dies, the wives must sell it to pay for the funeral ceremony, and even if they don't sell it, they must stop the land being split up between the heirs, because this will make it smaller and smaller. They also need to be capable of farming the land, which is why women are forced to remarry", he explained.
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
