First Lady’s Comments About DIG’s Projects....
“"Live Positively" with HIV
Steve is a great example of how one American citizen can use his creativity and compassion to support our government's aid programs abroad. When Steve arrived in Dakar as a Peace Corps member, he saw the need for AIDS patients to receive good nutrition -- and he used his life experience growing up on a Kansas farm to fill it. Steve is no longer in the Peace Corps, but has stayed on at Fann through his own NGO, Development In Gardening (or, appropriately, DIG). DIG is funded primarily by donations from Steve's family and friends back home. And when I met with patients at Fann, I was touched by their gratitude for all that the American people are doing to help them "live positively" with HIV.””
“With the help of Steve and current Peace Corps volunteers stationed at the hospital, Fann outpatients learn the gardening skills they need to grow their own food for a lifetime. Dakar's soil is very sandy, so the Fann gardeners adapt. They mix potting soil with peanut shells in old tires, empty juice cartons, and margarine buckets. Steve explains that by recycling normal household refuse, the Fann program shows outpatients in this urban environment how they can create their own micro-gardens on rooftops and terraces at home.”
Steve Bolinger - Mrs. Laura Bush - Jenna Bush Hager
Mrs. Laura Bush and Senegal’s First Lady Vivian Wade talk with outpatients.
For more information on the First Lady’s visit with DIG please visit:
Mrs. Laura Bush’s speech at the Smithsonian Museum
February 14, 2008