A community garden has opened in Brimbank Park specifically for refugee families.
The garden will be run by AMES Australia, an organisation that helps refugees and migrants settle in Australia, and is an extension of a similar program run in Werribee Park for the past three years.
Bishree Hammadi, from Iraq, and Amelework Bezabih, from Ethiopia are looking forward to using the garden. Ms Bezabih is hoping it will help her connect with the wider community.
“As a refugee, it is sometimes hard to get out and meet people from other backgrounds,” she said. “I hope the garden will help me make friends … [and] give me the opportunity to learn more about horticulture and maybe be able to grow more of my own food.”
AMES Australia chief executive Cath Scarth is enthusiastic about the garden’s potential.
“We see this as a way of promoting a cohesive society and giving newly arrived people connections into the communities in which they now live,” Ms Scarth said.
“Gardening is a great way of meeting new people and it is an important part of Australia’s cultural life, so it is very rewarding for us to be able to expose migrants and refugees who are newly arrived to projects like this.”
Anyone interested in volunteering or becoming involved in the garden should contact AMES Australia community development manager Melika Sheikh-Eldin at melika@ames.net.au.
