Growing Flowers in the Desert
Marigolds stubbornly push through the wire fence. Spring onions grow in guttering, and basil in old plastic yoghurt pots. Sunflowers splash yellow against the concrete.
On the 15th of March 2011, the Syrian civil war broke out. On the 1st of April 2012, the Domiz Camp, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) opened. Displaced people flooded its gates, and there were more than 30,000 refugees there by the end of 2021. Endless rows of makeshift shelters were hammered into sun baked earth, and many people were not even given a tent, but a blanket, for shelter.
It was in 2015 that Stephanie Hunt, Founder and CEO, decided to create the Lemon Tree Trust, a charity that provides refugees with the opportunity to create green spaces. Whilst living and working between London and Jordan with the voluntary advisory board of the United Nations Refugee Agency, Hunt saw a profound link between people and gardening in both places. She saw that people are drawn to creating green spaces, no matter how tiny their plot, or how challenging their circumstances. In Jordan, she saw that refugees were gardening despite all odds, and had brought seeds or cuttings from their homes in Syria. During a time of displacement, gardening was a way of bringing remnants of their home back to life.
In fact, gardening has played a valuable role in times of conflict for years. 100 prior to the Syrian Refugee Crisis, a group of World War One prisoner of war refugees sent a plea to Britain to send them some daffodil bulbs, so that they could create a sense of familiarity and beauty. Seeds and flower bulbs were sent by the Royal Horticultural Society, and the ‘Ruhleben Horticultural Society’ was formed. Similarly, Hunt became increasingly aware of the people’s need for green environments in the Domiz Camp, who, like the prisoners of war, asked her to send seeds.
By 2021, the charity has reached out to nine Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, including Gwailan, Essian, Khanki, Domiz 2, Kabartu 1, Kabartu 2, Bersive 1 and Bersive 2. In providing people with opportunities for gardening the charity could achieve its principal aims, which involve ‘Improving mental health, wellbeing and local environments, creating supportive communities, empowering women and provide refugees with independent access to fresh food’.
The Lemon Tree Trust clearly demonstrates that gardens and gardening do not only provide practical benefits, but also psychological ones. By no means do the gardens romanticise the life on the camps, but the gardens are a chance for people to live their lives with a greater sense of normality. The caring of plants provides people with purpose, even employment, and most importantly, joy of beauty and unity.
“My Garden is proof I still have something to give, that I’m still creative.”
Amal, and her daughter Ramad from Derik, Syria, grow their own vegetables, such as lettuce and mint, which they share with their neighbours. Amal says their garden gives them a sense of peace, particularly for Ramad after the loss of her father. Their garden is something that proves that despite a time of homelessness and loss, they can still contribute to their community, such as sharing their lettuce or the joy of their scented honeysuckle. Similarly, Khaled Ismael from Amude, Syria, who started life in the camp without even a tent: ‘My Garden is proof I still have something to give, that I’m still creative.’ Even in the most barren places, gardens bring hope.
The charity supports people’s individual gardening as well as community garden projects, such as the Azadi Community Garden in Domiz 1 Camp (KRI). At the centre of the action is Aveen Ibrahim, Operations Manager at the Lemon Tree Trust, and since its opening in 2016, more than 50 women and their children come together each day to this ‘Garden of Liberation’ (azadi translates to liberation in Arabic). Not only is this green space a safe environment in which to socialise, it is also an educative space. Women learn skills such as composting, recycling grey water and techniques to prepare herbs for their ‘Sidra tea blend of herbal tea’. The women are then able to use these skills to enhance their gardening projects, both for individual enjoyment as well as economic opportunities, such as selling their produce. Thus, gardening with the Lemon Tree Trust also provides dignity through economic opportunities, as well as “… an incredible opportunity for profitable enterprise and … a new refugee economy through horticulture.” The charity tries to reach out to as many people as possible, so when there is a surplus of produce, Ibrahim and her team ensure that it is distributed to vulnerable people in the camps, such as orphans, widows, people with special needs and large families.
Ultimately, it is this legacy that the Lemon Tree Trust project communicates – restoring dignity, providing a sense of purpose and even with the odds stacked against them, a joy to be shared.
If you would like to donate to help more people benefit from the power of gardening, please visit https://lemontreetrust.org/donate/
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
Image courtesy of Irina Iriser via Unsplash, ©2016, some rights reserved.
