Stories From The Field – Page 6

DIG’s San Diego 10 Year Anniversary Celebration

April 21, 2016

Thank you San Diego for an incredible evening at the top of the world. Our 10 Year Anniversary Celebration at Diamond View Tower was one for the record books. We have deeply appreciated your support year after year as we've worked together to help more communities around the world achieve food security, improved nutrition, climate resilience, and increased income through sustainable agriculture practices. What with the next 10 years bring! We can't wait to find out. Check out some wonderful photos from the event, taken by DIG supporter and event host, Big Mike Phillips.

Income Generation

Follow the Leader

April 21, 2016

Sabina Onyango is a member of a highly motivated HIV support group in Western Kenya. After seeing DIG's impact in the region, her group expressed an interest for DIG to work with them on sustainable agriculture initiatives for small holder farmers that also have a nutritional impact on people living with HIV.

Income Generation

Make the Market Come to You

April 21, 2016

With a growing number graduated DIG farmers who are seeing their small vegetable plots as an entrepreneurial opportunity, DIG decided to established an organic vegetable stall at our partner hospital, Lwala Community Alliance (LCA), to create a new link to the local market economy.

Community Transformation

The Batwa of Southern Uganda

April 20, 2016

The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Southern Uganda is home to some of the greatest biodiversity on the planet. It’s sheltering trees and mist covered hillsides harken you back to an almost mythical time. While the forest is home to over 400 plant species, 120 different mammal species and 350 different species of birds, perhaps its most beloved and sought after inhabitants are the 320 mountain gorillas, roughly half of the world’s remaining population, who roam its protected grounds. In 1991

Adventure Trips

Trellis Fellow in Kenya

September 25, 2015

This year DIG was awarded our 2nd Trellis Fund Award from UC Davis. The Trellis Fund is an arm of the UC Davis Horticulture Innovation Lab. Trellis works on a smaller scale than the lab, selecting students to partner with host organizations on the ground for a few months before traveling there for two-to-three-week projects. This year, 14 different students traveled to nine different countries including one to Kenya with DIG. DIG was matched with Belinda Richardson — an international

Nutrition

Resources for Success

September 9, 2015

Project Redwood Foundation(PRW) supported the original development of DIG’s resource manual toolkit, which includes a Garden Manual, a Nutrition Manual, a Pest andPlant-Disease Library, as well as a Protocol to Developing a Community Garden Program. In 2014, PRW supported the deployment of this toolkit to multiple organizations in order for them to establish sustainable agriculture programs and demonstration gardens. DIG distributed manuals and technical support in 7 countries to 18 different organizations, 3 schools, and 6 HIV support groups.

Food Security

A Young Mother Stepping Up

September 9, 2015

Through a partnership with the Lwala Community Alliance (LCA) in North Kamagambo, Kenya, DIG met and started working with a young woman named Eunice. LCA had been assisting her through their Out of School Mentoring for Girls program. Recently widowed and only 26 years old, Eunice was left to care single-handedly for her four children, ages ten, four, two and one. She has a lot stacked against her. She knows that at any moment her late husband’s brothers could legally

Food Security

Growing Up Resilient

September 8, 2015

Zakayo Mikwanga is recognized as one of DIG’s most successful home gardeners. He proudly harvests kale, carrots, and other vegetables every day of the year without interruption. “I am a busy person,” he laughs. “Unlike before, my family is learning new techniques as we enjoy the benefits of having a garden with many different vegetables.” Growing up, Zakayo had a father who, though poor, valued a good education – a rare privilege in 1960s Kenya. Zakayo would take his

Community Transformation

The Wechaya HIV Support Group

September 8, 2015

It’s an early, cool Wednesday morning; the sun is still low in the sky, but the chorus of cicadas and crickets reminds us of the heat that’s coming. The Wechaya HIV Support Group is meeting in their community garden. Quiet talking and laughing can be heard as women dressed in vibrantly patterned skirts make their way down the narrow cow paths and gather in the shade of a broad mango tree. Organized through DIG’s Mobile Farmer Field School program,

Income Generation

Budding Businesses – A Story of a Elizabeth Omiti

September 8, 2015

Elizabeth Achieng Omiti is a 52-year-old DIG-trained farmer in Migori County, Kenya. She is a widow, a mother of three daughters and two sons. She is also the sole provider for five grandchildren who were left with her by their mother several years ago. Before DIG came to the area, Elizabeth was growing sugarcane and maize exclusively. She struggled daily to put food on her table, and pay her grandchildren’s school fees. Sugarcane was what her husband had always

Community Transformation

Day 4 & 5 of Living Below the Line for DIG: There’s No Me Without You

May 1, 2015

Finally, it’s Friday and I have only two meals left before my Live Below the Line challenge for Development in Gardening (DIG) is complete. This time tomorrow I’ll be sipping a cup of coffee and hopefully making some waffles with raspberries on top! It’s seem so close yet still so far away. It’s been a hard week, but it’s not as though I’ve suffered. I’ve actually eaten pretty well. Last night I couldn’t even finish my dinner as it was

Community Transformation

Day 3 of Living Below the Line for DIG: Unexpected Turn of Events

April 30, 2015

So pretty much the worst thing that could have happened to me in this Live Below the Line challenge for Development in Gardening where I have to eat and drink on $1.50 a day for a week, just happened…well, maybe not the worst thing but pretty close. Last night I was all set to make my precious dinner. After getting my son to bed, my stomach rumbling, somehow having resisted the urge to pick-up any uneaten cheese off his dinner plate, I got

Plant Seeds That Reap Life