Stories From The Field – Page 10

Volunteering in Kafue

November 18, 2011

By: Damian, a DIG volunteer who has been in Kafue for the last 6 months with his wife, Ali. Kafue’s DIG project has been hard work with great rewards. We have met (and hopefully empowered) wonderful people who genuinely seem to enjoy the work and camaraderie. Four main gardens have been established at the local medical clinics with satellite home gardens spreading from each of these. I believe that a solid core group of women have really mastered the gardening

History of Our Growth

Zikomo Zambia

August 11, 2011

Every summer I make a pilgimage to a select handful of DIG’s garden in Africa. By the time the trip comes around I am usually more than a touch exhausted as it’s always trailing an inspiring yet emotionally draining series of fundraisers and a hectic spring. So you can imagine how I felt this year when at 9pm the night before I boarded a plane for Zambia my computer’s hard drive crashed, I got the black screen of death. So, after a

History of Our Growth

A Field Report from Zambia by Catherine Magill

August 11, 2011

Sorry for the long absence from DIG postings. The summer thus far has been a time of activity, transitions, and changes. Volunteers Damian and Ali Schlereth arrived in April to help out with the work in Kafue until early 2012. A wonderful group of four DIG supporters joined us for two weeks in June. Volunteer Sarah Sahlaney finished her commitment here to begin preparing for graduate studies in agriculture and development at UC-Davis in the fall. In late June, DIG’s

Community Transformation

DIG will be back in Kenya!

August 11, 2011

Previously, DIG has developed three separate sites in Kenya: 1) Ruiru- a Clinic south of Nairobi with Mother 2 Mothers, 2) Raila- a school in the heart of the Kibera slums, and 3) WISER girls secondary school– in Muhuru bay only a few hours from our new sites. This fall, DIG will begin two new projects with Crossroads Spring School and Lwala Community Hospital outside of Kisumu and Kisi, respectively. The new projects are a unique partnership between the

Adventure Trips

My Dream of Africa Came True by Maggie Johnston

August 11, 2011

Maggie Johnston is part of the Birmingham DIG community. She is the director of Camp McDowell Environmental Program and joined DIG on this year’s Donor Trip to Zambia. As a young child, I would thumb through my father’s National Geographic magazines and dream of Africa. Can you relate? Wild giraffes, lions, zebras, elephants wandering across the plains. Half clad, dark skinned African people using primitive tools to make a living from the land. I have grown up in a world

History of Our Growth

Sunday Afternoon in Zambia

March 22, 2011

It’s an overcast, breezy Sunday afternoon, and I just finished chopping up a large pumpkin to make into soup. I picked it up from one of the vegetable stands on the side of the road between Kafue and Lusaka yesterday. It’s such a relief to get out of the chaos and traffic of the city, pass the giant Lafarge cement factory in Chilanga and the last pothole, and then be on the slightly rolling road back home, surrounded by green

Community Transformation

DIG’s Growing Community of Support

February 17, 2011

DIG has seen an amazing influx of committed, available, and qualified individuals join our thriving garden community. Get to know a few of them below: Jamie Hamblin is helping craft the content and design of our nutrition manual. She is finishing her masters in Nutrition from Georgia State University. Jamie, will be joining DIG on site in Zambia this summer to evaluate the effectiveness of DIG’s nutrition resources. – If you would like to support DIG’s effort to bring Jamie

History of Our Growth

Growing Opportunities-Co Founder Steve Bolinger is Moving on From DIG

February 17, 2011

Everything in life has an ending, which in turn creates new beginnings full of new opportunities for growth. When DIG was co-founded by Sarah and myself I knew with absolute truth this was what I was suppose to do with my life at that particular time. I also knew it would not be permanent and there were other challenges in life on my “bucket list”. With much thought I have decided to move onto the next stage in my life

History of Our Growth

One Month in Zambia-by Catherine Magill

February 17, 2011

One month can be an infinite amount of time in a garden. In one month, gorgeous green plants can disappear from the face of the earth. They can wither from lack of water, be obliterated by insect attacks, be mortally wounded by neglect of all kinds. However, one month also happens to be enough time for plants to quadruple in size, to go from flowerless to exploding with fruit, to overflow the boundaries of their beds, and to fill buckets

Community Transformation

Board Growth

February 3, 2011

As DIG prepares for it’s annual Board retreat in a few weeks we are excited to welcome two new members to the team. Bill Westwood and Beth Pann have been passionate supporters of DIG for many years now. Bill has even made the trek to visit our first sites planted in Senegal. You can visit this link to read more about DIG’s Board of Directors https://www.dig.org/Reap_Life/BOD.html

History of Our Growth

Zambia’s First Major Harvest

January 26, 2011

DIG’s Program Manager in Zambia, Catherine Magill has been a busy bee in the gardens. First harvests are coming in as the rainy season continues to bless the country with a long awaited drink. With a laugh and a curious attitude, participants are trying zucchini for the first time. They like it and sweet veggies are now disappearing off the vine. Railway’s morning harvest zucchini and patty pans As Catherine awaits the arrival of her new volunteer, Sarah Sahlaney

History of Our Growth

DIGging has begun in Zambia

November 1, 2010

Under a toasty sky, members of the Kafue District Hospital ART support group gathered on October 12th to begin breaking up the hard earth and imbuing new life into their vegetable garden. The previous year, completely on their own initiative, without support from any outside organization, the group had prepared a large piece of land for growing local vegetables as an income-generating project. They had a vision for strengthening their group through developing a variety of activities at and around

Plant Seeds That Reap Life