Stories From The Field: Women’s Empowerment
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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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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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Budding Businesses – A Story of a Elizabeth Omiti

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

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What it Takes to End Hunger

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

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Local Facilitator: Sarah Obonyo

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

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Emily Achieng’s Ode to DIG

Rarely is DIG a muse for poetry but apparently something about our project sparked Emily’s creative juices! We also want to thank Mr. Tobias for capturing her poem and emailing it to us so that we can share it with all of you! After you read this poem, if you want to read more about Emily’s story click here.   DIG by Emily AchiengDIG! DIG! DIG!Who will help me DIG?In reality, everything is in DIG. Open your eyes and see!the richesproper

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Story from the Field: Wilfreda Anyang

Wilfreda Anyango is a mother of 8 children from Oboch Village of Kameji in North Kamagambo, Kenya. Wilfreda has to work extra hard to supplement the little income her husband is getting as a casual laborer in a nearby school since she has such a large family. Wilfreda joined DIG’s sustainable agriculture training because she is a member of the Umama Salama Group (Lwala Community Alliance Women’s group who work as community health workers to encourage women to give birth

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“12 Hours in the Day”

It’s exciting to usher in another year with Development in Gardening and have so much to look forward to! We have come a long way since our meager beginning 6 years ago, and I’m proud that we have not lost our grassroots focus or sacrificed our core values in order to survive. With a strong Board of Directors and an inspiring staff, DIG is poised for significant growth in 2012.    Our project in Lwala has been particularly meaningful for me

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Rona, a Positive Example from Kafue

Rona first joined Railway clinic in Kafue, Zambia with a Mothers to Mothers (M2M) program. Railway’s M2M program helps educate new mothers living with HIV how to prevent mother to child transmission.  Rona is a mother of six.  Her youngest child Kiki continues to fall short of the developmental norms of children her age.  Rona became interested in the DIG program at Railway Clinic so that she might learn about nutrition and how to produce her own food in order

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Meet Faith Owuor

Faith received her bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture at Egerton University in Kenya.  She has experience in organic farming, community organizing, rural development and project management.  She has worked for several different non-profits, including UNICEF and is dedicated to making each organization better than when she found it.     Before joining DIG, Faith worked in Sudan with Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) leading community mobilization, farmer training, agroforestry and livestock production.     Faith is from the same region where our new

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