Steve Dennis :: Steve's Photos

The APHPD

This area of Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) has been stressed by the conflict in the country, and before that, the resources of the area have been stretched thin as this area was host to thousands of Liberian refugees during the war there. In peaceful times, the civil society in Danané was able to support vulnerable groups like the APHPD. However, during these harder times, less, or no support is available for these groups. Note: There are many groups in need of assistance in Danané. There are blind groups, mental handicap groups, orphanages, women’s groups, PLWA (People Living with Aids) groups, etc. With my position in the project, many different groups would come to ask assistance from us. Unfortunately, in almost all cases, their requests are outside our mandate, and therefore I couldn’t justify using MSF resources for their causes. Similar with the APHPD, however they asked for assistance in getting people to help them help themselves. I felt their approach was a good one, and therefore I could use some of my spare time for finding out more. I was glad I did.

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The APHPD is an association with approximately 156 physically handicapped members.

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I had the opportunity to visit two different farms they run. This one is in Petite Danané.

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One Sunday morning we went out to an adjacent town to view their farm there. This is one of the larger farms they run, having eggplant, tomatoes, chilies, okra, bananas, palm trees, manioc and many other plants. There is someone who lives there, to do some of the work and organize things for the weekends. Every Saturday about 20 members of the association come to work on different parts of the farm. There is a member in the nearby market to sell the goods raised there.

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