Give your Zakat
Bring gardening to displaced communities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by giving your Zakat to Lemon Tree Trust
Imagine being forced to flee your home, to have to leave everything behind and start again in a new country. Refugee and IDP (internally displaced people) camps are often thought of as temporary. But many camps exist for decades. Once displaced, people usually live in these bleak, desolate spaces for years.
We are on a mission to transform refugee camps and communities, one garden at a time.
Give your Zakat to help us distribute more seed, plants and trees to camp residents so that they have the resources to improve their environment and wellbeing.
By supporting people to build home gardens, supporting communities to build community gardens (both ornamental and productive) and supporting women-led agriculture and horticulture initiatives and small businesses, you can help to empower people and affect change from the ground up.
Together we can turn bleak desolate spaces of refugee and IDP camps into productive green microclimates and communities. And moreover, your kindness and compassion can help to restore hope – we are #GrowingHope.
100% of Zakat goes directly to helping displaced communities
The simple act of gardening produces beauty, restores dignity, creates community and offers opportunity.
Nohad’s garden
“Where there’s green, there’s happiness.”
Amal’s garden
“My garden is my life.”
Tamo’s garden
“This garden gives people a reason to live.”
Together we can bring beauty, dignity and opportunity to communities left ravaged by the effects of war.
Lemon Tree Trust’s core running costs are fully funded, so 100% of your Zakat donation will be spent in refugee communities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, making a real and lasting difference in people’s lives.
100% of Zakat goes directly to helping displaced communities
Aveen’s story
Aveen Ibrahem is Lemon Tree Trust’s Operations Manager in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Aveen shares her story of having to flee Syria, what life is like for her family now, and how gardens and gardening bring hope and community to displaced people.
“I have seen first hand the impact that war can have. I am a Muslim from Damascus. I fled Syria with my husband and three children when war broke out in 2011, threatening the stability of the country and forcing many people from their homes. I made the difficult decision to move my family across the border to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). I arrived in Domiz 1 camp in early 2012, when the camp was still a tented community. I was so sad to leave my home but the community in the camp and gardening helped me to build a new life.
I have been involved with Lemon Tree Trust since 2015. I love gardening and I love people. In 2019 I became the Operations Manager at Lemon Tree Trust in Domiz 1 camp. I have expanded our projects to other camps and I have recruited a network of camp facilitators to help us reach more people, in particular, through our garden and cooking competitions.
The majority of the people we support say that they garden more for psychological comfort and being part of a community than a need for food. When they are in the garden they put aside all their daily problems. They are able to create a space that gives joy and helps makes their house a home.
Our competitions, gardens and plants help provide community, seeds and tools for people to grow. We give displaced people driven from their homes hope, but also the beginnings of normality to rebuild their lives.”
100% of Zakat goes directly to helping displaced communities
Aveen Ibrahem is Operations Manager at Lemon Tree Trust, overseeing our community gardening and cooking programmes across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Her work supports activities in Azadî Community Garden in Domiz 1 camp, as well as outreach and coordination across the nine camps where Lemon Tree Trust currently operates. Having lived in Domiz 1 … Continued
Inside the polytunnels at the Hêvî Community Garden in Gawilan refugee camp, Garden Manager Othman Qewas carefully selects fruit trees and flowering plants grown from seed. Joined by Hamid Abdullah, Lemon Tree Trust’s Horticulture and Landscape Consultant, the plants are loaded into the car before setting off to visit families across the camp. As part of our ongoing children’s outreach programme in Gawilan camp, … Continued
Bringing together residents to celebrate the home gardens they have grown, tended and transformed over the past year, Lemon Tree Trust’s 2026 Annual Garden Competitions have taken place across nine refugee and IDP (internally displaced people) camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. This year’s competitions introduced a greater emphasis on welcoming new participants alongside … Continued