Give your Zakat
Bring gardening to displaced communities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by giving your Zakat to Lemon Tree Trust today
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.
Na’ama’s garden
“It’s important in life to surround yourself with green.”
Ahmed’s garden
“This garden gives people a reason to live.”
Amal’s garden
“My garden is my life.”
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
Many thanks to Megan Davis at Perennial Gatherings for her generous donation this May, the latest in a series of kind contributions to Lemon Tree Trust over the years. Perennial Gatherings is a Vancouver-based floral studio and social enterprise, specialising in thoughtfully curated arrangements made with locally grown, seasonal blooms. Profits from floral sales are … Continued
Each month, our teams visit home gardens across nine camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to select a Garden of the Month winner. This April, we are delighted to celebrate nine gardeners whose creativity, commitment and passion for growing have transformed the spaces around their home shelters. Why the award matters In camps where … Continued
This spring, Othman Qewas, our Hêvî Community Garden manager, has been visiting schools in Gawilan camp, distributing tree and flower seedlings to children and introducing Lemon Tree Trust’s work to a new generation of young growers. Othman visited all five primary schools in Gawilan camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, reaching 124 pupils. At … Continued