Gardener stories: Meet Salih

Salih Yosuf, 45, is married with five children and lives in Domiz 2 camp. He shares what gardening means to him and has built an ingenious water feature in his home garden.

“I spend most of my time in my garden that I established two years ago. Roses are my favourite plant of all because each variety of rose has its own special properties, but all are beautiful.

“I hope that we can turn more of the camp into vegetable gardens. The coronavirus pandemic has not stopped us taking care of our gardens, but it has had a big impact on the refugees who work outside the camp, which they can’t do due to the curfew.”

Want to support gardeners like Salih?

The Lemon Tree Trust welcomes one-off and regular donations.

To make a donation, please go to: lemontreetrust.org/donate.

Our core infrastructure costs are fully funded so 100% of your donation directly supports gardening projects and initiatives in refugee communities.

  • $1 / £1 can give a family a packet of vegetable seeds 
  • $5 / £5 can provide a family a basket of nutritious produce 
  • $25 / £25 can fund a Home Garden Starter Kit for a new family arriving in the camp, containing a Home Garden Manual, seeds, tools, a grow-bag and a children’s gardening activity

More gardener stories

  • Watch our short films about why displaced people garden
  • Meet Khanki camp resident Hajar
  • Meet Domiz 2 camp resident Ahmed

Learn more about life in refugee camps

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon Tree Trust supporter Katie Cox recently raised £1,000 for our work, plus £250 in Gift Aid, by organising an arts and crafts fundraising event at her home and in her garden. Katie is pictured above wearing a rather fabulous green shirt covered in lemons. Katie’s donation was made during our Tree & Plant Appeal, … Continued

This spring, we launched our 2026 Tree & Plant Appeal with a target of £30,000 / $39,500 USD to help us grow and distribute trees and plants, both ornamental and productive, to families and communities living in refugee and internally displaced people’s camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Thanks to the incredible generosity of … Continued

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