We are helping refugees grow their own food in Greece and need your help!
Welcome Foundation and Americans for Refugees in Crisis (ARC) are jointly developing several projects at Ritsona camp, about 1.5 hours north of Athens. The camp will eventually house about 800 residents.
Our first project, and one very close to our hearts for many reasons, is an organic (bio) community garden. We’ve been allotted about 1.6 acres by the Greek Air Force to build a community garden which will provide plots for families, individuals, and groups. Welcome and ARC have been developing the garden plan with Greek partners for the past month and will break ground in the next week or two. We have two stellar Project Managers on site, Ben and Heather Ridge. Heather has a degree in agriculture education, has developed garden programs elsewhere, and recently completed a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in India.
While the refugees all hope to leave Greece quickly, the reality is that many will be in Greece for several years. A community garden will have the practical benefits of providing them with healthy food and, perhaps more importantly, give people agency in producing their own food. Camp residents have a broad range of professional skills and accomplishments for which their current circumstances provide little outlet. We anticipate that residents will quickly assume leadership roles and develop the garden enterprise in new ways. Once the garden has been established, the next phase of the project includes the creation of a community kitchen at Ritsona to provide room for micro enterprises.
A linkage that we are excited about is already established between the garden project and the recently established Ritsona school. Eva Magkou, a Greek educator who is in charge of the school is working with our project manager Heather to develop a curriculum in which local school children and children from the camp school will work jointly on projects based in the garden.
How can you help with this exciting new program?
In addition to needing volunteers to help with the actual building of the garden, we are raising funds to pay for the expenses of this project. These expenses include: rental cost of farm tractor to clear land, soil amendment, shared garden tools, a shared lockable shed to store the tools, materials for building raised beds, drip irrigation, plant supports, a farm stand, water catch basins, and many other garden related requirements.