Two officials from a Kenyan AIDS organisation picked me up and took me on a drive. We drove and drove all day, over muddy tracks, through endless pineapple and coffee plantations, rural villages and slums, through all of Africa, it seemed, to arrive at a small field, perhaps half an acre, with some weeds growing in it and an old woman standing there with a hoe. I had not expected this ... one of my guides spoke first. 'We are very proud of this project'. So I said nothing."
"About 20 women had saved up for two years to buy this land. All of them were supporting orphans whose parents had died of AIDS, and they hoped the land would produce enough food for about 50 people in all. On a nearby hill one of Kenya's vast corporate-owned coffee plantations loomed like the edge of a sea. The old woman kept glancing at it as though it might sweep her away. I was moved by what I saw, although I did not understand at the time how this project was supposed to fight AIDS. This book explains how I came to do so" (Preface).
