Nine Months Later: From Gaps in Foreign Aid to Homegrown Resilience

This article is a follow-up to our June update, When Aid Stops, DIG Gardens Keep Growing, where we shared how global funding cuts left hospitals without life-saving nutrition supplements. Here is what we’ve learned since.

Earlier this year, when global aid was slashed and Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) supplied by the government disappeared from Kenyan hospital shelves, many feared the worst for the country’s most vulnerable children. Emergency nutrition products like Plumpy’Nut have saved countless lives in moments of crisis. But when shipments stopped, it exposed a deeper truth: survival can’t depend only on what arrives from abroad. Families also need solutions they can rely on, grow themselves, and trust over the long term.

That’s where DIG comes in.

“We are lucky because DIG came in right on time when the RUTFs ran out. The amaranth and sorghum porridge DIG provides are crops that families can source locally, which they already know and trust. Unlike imported products, they can be made available to everyone in the household, which is important because when we see one malnourished child, we should assume there are others in the household also struggling,” said Pauline, County Hospital Nutritionist at Ndiru Level 4 Hospital in Homa Bay County.

At the heart of DIG’s Priority Household Program is Nutrition. In our program, we offer a locally made porridge that mothers and caregivers learn to prepare using nutrient-rich crops like amaranth and sorghum, staples that can be grown, milled, and shared across the household. When imported Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) like Plumpy’Nut run out or shipments stop, DIG’s porridge provides a sustainable, homegrown way for families to continue recovery. It demonstrates how locally available foods can effectively support the nutrition and healing of malnourished children. Families trust it because the ingredients are local, chemical-free, and can be easily grown in their gardens.

DIG’s Priority Household Program goes beyond food distribution.

Mentor Mothers and Fathers sit with families, ask what’s missing, and build a response together. They co-design nutrient-rich gardens, share cooking and feeding practices, and prepare the enriched porridge flour that’s restoring health to children. For mothers who once struggled, these interventions have been life-changing.

“Many of these mothers had lost hope. They came into the program with malnourished children, but they’ve emerged strong, economically empowered, with healthy children. It brings me such joy to see these women thrive. They thrive not just for themselves, but for their households and communities. They become reference points, neighbors come to them, asking, How did you do this? And in that moment, they aren’t just surviving; they’re leading,” shared Susan, Board Member of DIG Kenya and Nutritionist.

Emergency aid can stop hunger in the moment. DIG works with communities to build lasting resilience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why This Matters Now

In a world shaken by climate shocks, conflict, and funding cuts, it can feel like systems are breaking faster than they can be fixed. DIG offers a different story: resilience is possible.

With your support, families are not just beneficiaries of aid, but agents of change in their own food systems.

“In such a short time, we’ve seen households move from food insecurity to food security through DIG’s program. My wish is that it can be expanded so even more families are reached,” said Pauline, County Hospital Nutritionist at Ndiru Level 4 Hospital in Homa Bay County

Investing in DIG isn’t about replacing emergency aid; it’s about ensuring that when the shipments stop, children still eat, mothers still lead, and communities still thrive.

When aid stops, DIG gardens keep growing

What happens when foreign aid disappears? In Kenya, four hospitals that DIG partners with are seeing firsthand how devastating that answer can be: no more Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs), no more emergency lifelines. Families are being turned away with nothing. But these hospitals aren’t standing alone. Through DIG’s Priority Household Program, they’re finding a way forward, one rooted in locally grown solutions, not foreign aid.

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