Meet Pamela and Tilly

In Kotoro village of Homa Bay County lives a small family whose journey from hardship to hope demonstrates the important role nutrition plays in our lives.

When Tilly was born, she was underweight. Her young mother, still in school, entrusted her care to her grandmother. Like many grandmothers across rural Kenya, Pamela did her best, but her small farm yields were meager, and she lacked the resources to meet the nutritional needs of a growing infant.

At the center of this story is a bright-eyed little girl named Tilly and her resilient grandmother, Pamela.

By the time Tilly was nine months old, she was diagnosed at Rangwe Sub-County Hospital as moderately acutely malnourished and recommended for  DIG’s Priority Household Program.

That moment changed everything. With support from the hospital nutrition team and guidance from a DIG Mentor Mother, Pamela learned complementary feeding techniques and how to prepare nutritious porridge from amaranth and sorghum flour provided by DIG. She was trained in sustainable agriculture and introduced to nutrient-rich vegetables like moringa, spinach, carrots, beetroot, and black nightshade. For the first time, Pamela had both the knowledge and the tools to nourish her granddaughter with food her body needed to grow strong.

The results were remarkable. Over the next six months, Tilly’s weight increased and her health status returned to normal. The child who once struggled to survive was now crawling, walking, and laughing, her recovery a living example of the power of locally grown, nutritious food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the story doesn’t stop with Tilly.

Once Pamela no longer had to fear for her granddaughter’s survival, she was able to take another step. She expanded her home garden and started a thriving seedling business focused on selling kale and black nightshade, two local vegetables highly desired in her community. What began as a grandmother’s fight to save her grandchild grew into an opportunity for Pamela to imagine something greater for herself and serve her community.

This is Nutrition in action, one of DIG’s five pillars of impact. It shows why we begin with food. Because when families like Pamela’s secure their nutrition, they are freed to take the next step: building income, resilience, and hope for the future.

Today, Pamela has become a role model in her community, and little Tilly is growing stronger every day. Their story reminds us that nourishing one child can transform a family and inspire a whole community.

Nine Months Later: From Aid Gaps to Homegrown Resilience

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.

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