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The high price of HIV/AIDS
Gwanda, Uganda
Balancing the household budget is not something Sarah can afford to give much thought to. Instead, all of her time and energy are spent trying to scrape together enough money to feed her family each day. Sarah, a young widow at 44, lost her husband to AIDS. Most of her day is spent caring for her children, farming her 3.5-acre plot and breeding pigs for sale. She also makes mats, baskets and tablecloths which she sells to earn extra income, although finding a market for her wares is often difficult.
From the time her husband first became ill she had to use most of her money to pay for his treatment as well as that for her mother, who was also sick, and most of her time taking care of them both, leaving fewer hours to manage the farm. The monthlong mourning period following her husband's death and the deaths of other family and friends in the village, as she attends their funerals and prepares food for their relatives, have also interrupted her farm work. As a result, much of her plot is now under weeds and she derives little income from what she is able to produce in the little time she has.
- Case-study: One man's loss is another man's gain
- Case-study: A young widow fends off in-laws'threats to take her land
- Case-study: Women join hands and provide a pillar of support
