Monica Soko is an HIV diagnostic assistant with AHF Malawi. Her story is next in our “I Am AHF” series featuring remarkable staff, clients, and partners who are doing what’s right to save lives everyday.
I was born and raised in Zimbabwe in a loving, middle-class family as the sixth of seven children. I was fortunate to grow up with both of my parents. My father worked at a chrome mine, while my mother was a hospital attendant. My childhood was quiet and peaceful, and my family, especially my parents and sisters, was always loving and supportive. My oldest sister was a particularly strong influence on me. She was my role model, a teacher and a businesswoman, and watching her inspired me to believe that I could also build a life where I could make a difference. When I was 14, my family moved to Malawi after my father received his pension from the chrome mine.
My interest in public health was shaped by my mother. I often helped her care for her sick siblings and accompanied her when she volunteered at orphanages. Those experiences showed me how deeply a person’s health and circumstances can affect their entire life and inspired me to pursue a career where I could help others.
That journey eventually led me to AHF.
I was drawn to AHF because it is an organization that values its employees and provides a sense of stability, but what has kept me here is the opportunity to work directly with people and see the difference that our work can make.
Today, I work as an HIV Diagnostic Assistant at Chilinde Community Hospital in Malawi. My work involves identifying people living with HIV, supporting their linkage to treatment and helping ensure that they receive their antiretroviral medicines.
As I worked with clients, I began noticing that some people would come for their first visit, receive their medicines and then disappear. When we started tracing clients who had missed their appointments, we found that many were facing the same challenge: they did not have enough food.
They would tell us that they had no food and could not take their medicines properly when they had nothing to eat.
At one point, I was encountering about 11 clients every month who were repeatedly missing their appointments. Many had nobody to support them and were struggling to meet their most basic needs.
I began asking myself: What if bringing people back to the clinic was not enough? What if we also needed to help address the problem that was keeping them away?
I started bringing clients who were facing similar challenges together so they could encourage and support one another. But I quickly realized that emotional support alone would not solve the problem of hunger.
I came up with the idea of starting a vegetable garden.
I used my own money to rent a piece of land and buy seeds so we could get started. The garden is not simply a place where we grow vegetables. It has become a source of food, income, dignity and hope.
We have created a system where everyone has a role. Some members water the garden, while others sell the produce in their communities and at the market. We also work with other traders who can place orders for our vegetables.
When we make sales, the money is collected and recorded by our treasurer so that everyone can see how much we have generated and how it is being used.
At the end of each month, members come to the health facility to collect their medicines and their share of the garden’s proceeds. So far, the initiative has supported 27 people who are now back on HIV treatment.
Some members have also used money earned from the garden to start their own small businesses, creating another path toward financial independence.
But one of the things that makes me most proud is seeing how the members have begun helping others. They now visit other people who are taking antiretroviral treatment, share their experiences and encourage them to stay on treatment.
I have also seen a physical transformation in many of the people I work with. Some of the clients I initially encountered were very sick. Today, many are healthier, more open and more confident.
This experience has taught me that HIV care cannot stop at diagnosing someone and giving them medicine.
If I was not working at Chilinde, I believe some of these people would have no hope. Some could have died. HIV could have spread, and we could have had more orphans. That is why this work is so important to me.
I am proud that something as simple as a vegetable garden has helped people return to treatment, provide for their families and begin building more secure futures for themselves.
But I also know that the garden can grow much further.
I started this journey because I wanted to help people. Today, I see that help growing in ways I never expected.
