Rise Together children connect with nature at the Azadî Community Garden
We had the pleasure of welcoming Rise Together to our Azadî Community Garden in Domiz 1 camp recently. They are a wonderful team of volunteers who are passionate about environmental initiatives for children. They came to us looking for a special place where children of different ages could get their hands dirty and learn about gardening and caring for our precious food sources and soil.
Zhian and Ruqia took the group on a winding tour around the garden, pointing out the many different types of vegetables and fragrant herbs that are flourishing in our beds. You could feel the children’s excitement bubbling over as they wandered through the warm polytunnels and made their way over to our community bakery house, where the aroma of freshly baked bread still lingered around the two traditional tannour ovens we use for making Syrian flatbreads, khubz.
Shalal rolled up his sleeves and showed the children how to gently sow seeds into rich, dark compost, their small fingers carefully pressing each seed into the soil. We sent them home with little packets of cress seeds – their very own piece of the garden to nurture and watch grow.
The children were absolutely delighted by our rabbits, chickens and quail. Their faces lit up with pure joy as they gently stroked the rabbits, while our chickens and quail clucked and chirped nearby.
Rise Together’s visit was a lovely reminder of how much children enjoy learning about growing and connecting with nature. It’s always rewarding to see young people discover the satisfaction of working with soil and plants.
Bring gardening fun to your home
Inspired by Rise Together’s visit? You can bring the joy of gardening to children in your own community. Download our free Mr & Mrs Cresshead and other fun gardening activities from our Resources area. They have been created in partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society and are free to download in English, Arabic, Farsi, French, Pashto, Somali, Spanish and Ukrainian.
Support our work
Visits like these are only possible thanks to the generous support of our donors. Help us continue welcoming more children to discover the wonder of growing by making a donation today.
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
Girls and boys living in Gawilan refugee camp have come together for child-focused environmental workshops at the Hêvî Community Garden, brought to life by Lemon Tree Trust and the General Directorate of Social Care in Duhok (DoLSA). The workshops form part of the Child Protection and Climate Change Campaign, through which UNICEF supports DoLSA in … Continued
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