Meet our community gardeners Ahin, Khadija, Nasreen and Fatima
The Azadi Community Garden in Domiz 1 camp is overseen by Aveen (left) and her community gardener team, pictured above. We asked them some questions to find out more about what they like doing when they’re not gardening.
Q: What is your favourite plant / flower?
A: Both Khadija and Fatima’s favourite is jasmine. Ahin loves tulips and Nasreen prefers camomile.
Q: Do you like to cook? And if so, what’s your ultimate ‘comfort’ meal?
A: All but Ahin love cooking, with favourite dishes of malfof (Ahin), maqloba (Khadija), pizza (Nasreen) and dolmades (Fatima).
Q: Do you have a hobby outside of work?
A: When they are not helping in the garden or working on Lemon Tree Trust projects, Ahin loves learning maths and English, Khadija loves to write, Nasreen spends time learning languages and Fatima loves reading and listening to music.
Q: If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
A: Ahin would like to visit Canada for its peace; Khadija would like to settle in the region and achieve her dream; Nasreen would travel to Italy for its beauty and nature and Fatima would like to go to Germany because she feels a close affinity with its culture.
Meet some of our other team members
The 2026 Lemon Tree Trust Cooking Competitions have brought together people from different cultural backgrounds to share the dishes and food traditions that are important to them this October. Across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, our annual competition fixture continues to celebrate the diversity of local communities, while supporting people to connect through growing, preparing … Continued
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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