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DIG’s Final Harvest in Lwala is Bittersweet

by: Noah Derman Aerial Shot of Lwala taken by Cleave Frink (Apple) It has been 5 years since I took my first trip with DIG to Africa.  After an amazing visit to Zambia, I traveled with Andy Bryant, Executive Director of the Segal Family Foundation, and Catherine Magill, then acting DIG Program Coordinator, to Western Kenya. Our aim was to explore and vet potential program partnerships. DIG was looking at several opportunities for collaboration within Kenya and Uganda. Lwala Community Alliance

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Batwa Uganda Project Begins…

by: Lauren Masey Seasonal Calendar Activity in Rwaburindi Before arriving, I wanted to ensure I was adequately informed about the Batwa, but also wanted to make sure that I came with an open mind, a blank page with no premature opinions. I managed to use research papers, articles, and mainly YouTube videos to try and grasp what the situation waiting for in me in Uganda would be.  After about three weeks of my fact finding mission, meeting with different groups,

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DIG-ing for a Decade!

Since its founding 10 years ago, Development in Gardening (DIG) has specialized in promoting gardening and diet diversity services among health facilities, schools and local households in African communities.

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DIG’s San Diego 10 Year Anniversary Celebration

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.

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Follow the Leader

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.

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Make the Market Come to You

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.

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The Batwa of Southern Ugand

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

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Trellis Fellow in Kenya

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

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Resources for Success

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. 

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A Young Mother Stepping Up

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

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Growing Up Resilient

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

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The Wechaya HIV Support Group

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,

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