Growing the next generation of gardeners in Gawilan camp
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 each school, he spoke with the children about plants, gardening and the environmental benefits of growing. Each student received seedlings to plant in their school grounds: pomegranate, fig, grape and dodonaea trees, alongside rose, rosemary and snapdragon seedlings, all grown from seed in the Hêvî Community Garden’s polytunnels in Gawilan.
Othman shares:
“When I handed the trees and seedlings to the children and saw their faces light up, I was reminded exactly why we do this work. I want to help build a community where green plants are part of everyday life here: in the streets, the schools and the spaces around people’s homes. Many of these children carry a great deal. When a child holds a young tree and understands that they can plant it, tend to it and watch it grow, it gives them a relationship with the living world that has real value for how they feel day to day. These children are the gardeners and land guardians of the future.”
School visits to the Hêvî Community Garden are planned for the new academic year, once final exams are complete.
This project follows school outreach the team has carried out since 2022, including visits to schools in the Kurdistan Region for World Children’s Day, and a gardening project with the Êriș Centre in Qamishli, Syria in January 2026.
Help more seedlings reach more children
The trees and plants given to the children of Gawilan camp were grown at the Hêvî Community Garden. To keep growing and distributing them, we need your support.
This spring we are raising funds to grow and distribute thousands more trees and plants across refugee and IDP (internally displaced people) camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Camps like Gawilan camp are dense, city-like settlements with little greenery, where shade is scarce and outdoor space is limited. Trees cool the air during the hot summers and provide fruit. Flowers bring colour, beauty and pollinators. A small plant handed to a child can become a garden that a whole family tends.
Every donation this spring is being matched, so your gift goes twice as far.
Our target is £30,000 GBP / $39,500 USD.
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