I’m Khaled and in my country, Sudan, I was a farmer. When I left my country, I went to Greece where I started working as a farmer again, planting lots of fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers and lemons. I did this for ten years and learnt so much about gardening, caring for the land and growing food.
When I arrived in the UK, I didn’t speak English and I couldn’t understand what people were saying for me. I was moved to Nottingham from Ipswich a few months after I arrived, and I was put on a very long waiting list to access an English course at college. As well as not being able to learn English, living in a hotel and waiting for refugee status is hard. People seeking asylum don’t have the right to work so they have too much time to think. Because the weather in this country is bad, lots of people have nowhere else to go but stay inside all day. It’s not good for your mind.
When I first went to the garden at Nottingham Refugee Forum, I thought:
“Wow, it’s big, it’s so nice and beautiful, and they are doing great stuff there!”
I met Jo, the garden worker, and other volunteers and I thought they were so nice, so I decided to become a garden volunteer. I was spending at least two or three days a week volunteering in the garden! In the garden, there are so many different types of fruits and vegetables that we grow for food for the café, but my favourite experience was building the polytunnel – it was a great experience for me.
Even though I had to wait a long time for college, because I was volunteering in the garden I had conversations with other volunteers so my English improved and I started to understand when people talked to me! I also wanted to make friends and integrate as part of the community. For me, in the garden, I met people from all over the world: the UK, Georgia, Eritrea, Sudan and we are all friends, sharing our cultures and ideas. It made me feel part of a community.
I had lots of skills I could use and share in the garden. Jo helped me to learn even more and helped me access a City and Guilds Level 2 Horticulture Skills Course. The course lasted six months and I learnt so much about designing and measuring gardens, cutting down trees, how to build strong trees, making natural compost and peat and so much more. I was the only non-British person on the course, so it was nice to get to know people from the UK even better! It has been so nice to share the new things I learnt with everyone at Nottingham Refugee Forum. I am so grateful for Jo for helping find this opportunity for me.
After two years, I have finally started studying English at college, and I am studying towards Level 1, but I still come to volunteer in the garden every week. I love it.
If I could share one message it would be:
“The garden is so important to so many people seeking asylum who are alone, waiting and having a difficult time. The garden is a place where they can go two days a week and do something great. Often there are 10 volunteers there and there are always more people coming to volunteer. When you go to the garden in the summer you think wow it is amazing – everyone should go and visit it if you get the chance. Thank you so much to the staff and volunteers at Nottingham Refugee Forum, they are very good, especially Jo. This garden is so important to us.“
To help us to keep on supporting volunteers, building community and providing opportunities for people seeking refuge like Khaled, please consider donating to our garden appeal.
If you would like to visit the Grassroots Community Garden yourself, we are hosting our Spring Festival and open garden on Thursday 2nd April from 11am until 2pm, as an opportunity to celebrate Eid, Nowruz, Easter and the start of spring. There will be activities, food from Café Narjis and the opportunity to meet our volunteers. Come and see this hidden gem for yourselves!
