Millogo Estelle is a DIG gardener at our Lamizana Military Camp in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. She is part of a group called A.M.E.S. which stands for Association Militaire D’Entraide Etde Solidarite. It is an HIV support group that DIG started working with at the end of March 2013.
Estelle’s husband worked for the Burkina Military and died in 2010. For awhile she received food aid to help support herself and the 5 children in her care. Last spring, unable to continue giving her food, A.M.E.S invited her to collaborate with DIG.
Estelle comes to the A.M.E.S Community DIG Garden 2-3 times a week. She always shows up to work, even if the other members don’t. It helps that she only lives about 1mile from the site.
When asked if and how she has benefited from the DIG program this is what she had to say:
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I really benefited. I’ve gotten seeds and technical training in gardening and it makes me feel more autonomous. I never sit sad and board as I can always find something to do in my home garden or at the AMES site. In my home garden, I harvest vegetables to cook with for my family. When I don’t have any money in my house I am always able to find something I can harvest from my home garden or at the community site. I love cooking with okra, belembouri, and bulyaka. In addition to the change in my families meals, I am now always busy at home working in my garden to make it nice. The
project also allows AMES members to reinforce their relationships. I share my problems with DIG and the members of my group and we always find solutions. I’m looking forward to starting to sell a portion of my vegetable harvest when it is more than I need. I thank DIG very much and hope DIG will stay for a long with with us. Interview and translation conducted by Salam Sawadogo (DIG’s Program Coordinator in Burkina Faso) While DIG can’t stay in Burkina forever, we are excited to be hearing more stories like Estelle’s everyday. To see visual updates from DIG’s Burkina Project click here.