Essential road maintenance works in Azadi
For the last few winters, the road linking the four sections of the Azadi Community Garden in Domiz 1 camp has become extremely waterlogged. Heavy winter rains often wash away the top layer, leaving deep ruts in both sides and with each heavy rainfall, the roads become fast flowing streams and in the case of larger roads, mini lakes (not an understatement!)
The build-up of mud is both difficult and dangerous to walk on. Our team in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and our community of gardeners unintentionally frequently trample mud into areas of the garden, which then has to get cleared up. And of course, regularly cleaning shoes gets a bit tiresome.
This year, enough was enough! We decided to take action and invest in resurfacing the road.
Aveen Ibrahem, our KRI operations manager, organised contractors to carry out works to improve the roads. We took delivery of several tonnes of gravel, which a JCB digger then spread as part of the road resurfacing work.
Our team is thrilled with their ‘new’ road. This type of behind-the-scenes work is not glamourous or exciting in the slightest but it does have a massive positive impact on the day to day operations of running a community garden in a refugee camp.
Make a donation to help us with the costs
All donations, however small, will help cover costs of our projects across the KRI, which includes maintenance work such as road resurfacing.
Thank you.
Find out more about daily life in Domiz 1 camp
Read about the set-up and infrastructure of refugee and IDP camps, as well as the living conditions there.
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