LIBERIA-HOW FISH FARMING CAN AID HIV VICTIMS

With subsistence farming
inadequate and meat and fish
expensive luxuries, Liberia's
Grow2Feed farm is becoming an
essential source of protein for
those with HIV
Ever since he was diagnosed HIV-
positive, Moses King, 48, has had
one major problem. He has been
able to cope with the stigma of
being HIV-positive - widespread
in Liberia - and he was able to
access anti-retroviral medication,
provided by the Global Fund to
fight Aids, tuberculosis and
malaria
and distributed by the Liberian
government. But King and his
family of six children could not
get the right food to eat.
A subsistence farmer, he grew
vegetables and bought rice. But
meat and fish - expensive, luxury
products in Liberian markets but
essential sources of protein -
remained elusive.
"Subsistence farming allowed us
to survive, but we had so many
problems," said King. "We could
not get any protein, and we were
not getting the nutrients we
needed to sustain ourselves."
Pate K Chon, a counsellor who
works with HIV sufferers in
Liberia, provided an unlikely
solution. Since watching a
documentary about a fish farm in
Thailand several years earlier, she
had thought of setting up a
similar project in Liberia,
enabling HIV sufferers to have
work and also access a stable
source of protein.
"I saw this film about fish in a
cement pool and I thought it was
a good idea," said Chon, herself
diagnosed with HIV in 1992. "So
many of the people I work with
don't have the means to have a
balanced protein diet, and fish is
such a clean source of protein - it
doesn't cause health problems
like other sources, and it is
something we can farm."
Chon, founder of a faith-based
NGO Serving Humanity with
Affection, Love and an Open Mind
(Shalom), began building a pool
in which to farm fish.
Last June, Chon met John Sheehy,
a "strategic philanthropist" and
founder of consultancy Emerging
Business Lab, who raised money
for the non-profit fish farm in the
northeast of Monrovia, Liberia's
capital, and set about learning
aquaculture, doing an online
course through Cornell University
and speaking to other fish
farmers in Africa.
"I raised the money and built the
farm, learned the proper tank
layout and water flow system,"
said Sheehy.