Kenya - DIG - Page 3

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.

Financial Resilience

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.

Field 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

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

Financial Resilience

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

Financial Resilience

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,

Field Trips

I DIG Kenya 2014

October 8, 2014

We set off on an adventure……. “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” ― Mary Anne Radmacher

Food Security

What it Takes to End Hunger

June 11, 2014

By Maggie Black Vida Aooko Bitta, 30 years old and mother of four, is one of a DIG (Development in Gardening) team of community facilitators in Rongo District, Western Kenya. What she and the team are trying to do is transform the diet, improve the well-being and fill the pocket-books of local farming families. Many of these are among the 240 million Africans who regularly go hungry. Vida’s home is just a mile away from the Lwala community hospital

Kenya

Home is Where the Heart Is

December 9, 2013

Lucille Otieno is what we call a true matriarch. She is a mother, grand mother, and great grandmother several times over and has been the primary provider for her large family for several years. Due to several unfortunate circumstances, Lucille supports two of her granddaughters, Selena and Florence, as well as all of their children, each of whom have found refuge in her small home. Lucille is a small scale farmer by tradition. She got involved with DIG because of a

Kenya

Local Facilitator: Sarah Obonyo

September 19, 2013

Meet one of DIG’s stars and amazing Local Facilitators, Sarah Obonyo. Sarah is the mother of 4 beautiful children and wife to a loving and supportive husband. She lives in Rongo in Western Kenya and has a passion for learning. While Sarah never finished secondary school she is incredibly intelligent and has proven to be a more than capable teacher and an irreplaceable member of the DIG team in Kenya. Sarah started working for DIG last year after she proved herself to be

Financial Resilience

Hellen Odira Omingo: DIG Farmer and Entrepreneur

September 18, 2013

I spent this morning with Hellen Odira Omingo, a DIG farmer participating in our Producer Group Program in North Kamagambo, Kenya. Hellen is a widow blessed with 4 children and a beautiful spirit. She was trained by DIG last year in our Farmer Field School program and selected to join the Todnal Producer Group. DIG launched the Producer Group Program several months ago as a pilot program to help small-holder farmers shift their perspective from subsitence farming alone to farming as