Cultural exchange in a Community Garden
Learning with, from and about each other! – Our Common Garden
I’ve met lots of new people. I used to feel alone a lot, but now I have a place to go when I feel alone.” – Participant from „Our Common Garden
The participatory garden project “Our Common Garden” by DOZ e.V. in Leipzig-Engelsdorf was launched in April 2022. In collaboration with the association gemeinsam grün e.V., the foundation stone for an inclusive community garden was laid between 2022 and 2024.
DOZ e.V. approached people and families with the context of flight and migration and considered how it can be ensured that they can participate and emancipate themselves in the community garden. How can participation in the garden have a positive impact on their everyday lives?
Gemeinsam grün e.V. started on the site with educational offers for people with and without disabilities and made their perspectives and needs visible.
This cooperation resulted in the creation of a very special community space. The respective orientation of the associations brought multi-layered perspectives to the project and enabled very heterogeneous groups to access and participate in the garden.
They took collective responsibility for enabling exchange and learning from each other in the community garden.
Activities Implemented Under This Project
“In the garden, I learned to work with a wide variety of people and to be happy together about what we have achieved.”
Very participatory activities took place in the garden; in addition to the open garden days, there were regular intercultural cooking events and festivals. These were made possible primarily thanks to funding from the Land in Sicht and
Heidehofstiftung foundations. The cooking events were held at regular intervals in an accessible and welcoming atmosphere. Each event was themed around a specific country or region. The participants organized themselves into small teams, who brought a recipe for the event, took care of the food and led the cooking. The meals were cooked as a group and then eaten together.
The festivals offered interested people the opportunity to get to know the garden project and the community. At the events, it was easy to see how the community has grown together even more over the last three years and the openness and naturalness with which new people were involved in conversations and activities.
Thanks to support from the city as a part of the “Leipzig Ort der Vielfalt” (“Leipzig place of diversity”) program, the garden community was able to create the garden’s central meeting point – the outdoor kitchen made of clay with a green roof – and make it barrier-free.
During several workshops and various working days, the garden community successfully constructed a communal open kitchen and a dome oven using clay and other recycled materials.
In addition, workshops on gardening topics such as sustainable cultivation and harvesting of food and its processing, biodiversity in the city and the use of natural resources were held over the three years, as well as workshops with creative content such as pottery and wreath-making.
“Such projects are very important for society.”
The “Our Common Garden” project has shown how essential meeting places and joint activities are for social cohesion. Community gardens in particular have great potential and are especially valuable.
The work made it clear that there are many ways to find a place for yourself in the community, to get involved and help shape it. Interesting fields of learning opened up again and again in everyday garden life, in which skills could be acquired that are important for many areas of community life, such as entering into dialog, engaging in processes of debate and creating and working together in a team.
In addition, knowledge about the environment and nature was further developed and awareness was raised.
Conversations with participants in the project revealed that “Our Common Garden” has raised awareness of the need to take more responsibility for ourselves, others and the environment in everyday life.
My wish for the garden is that it remains as active as it is and that even more people join and support the community. So that we can create even more.
Over the course of the project, a solid group of committed volunteers has formed who want to continue to maintain and play in the community garden.
Would you like to get involved? Join in – we look forward to it!
If you are interested in the SALVIA community garden, please take a look at the website (www. gemeinsamgrün-leipzig.de) or visit the garden:
SALVIA – Gemeinschaftsgarten
(directly at Toom-Baumarkt)
Riesaer Straße 104
04319 Leipzig
for more information on the activities of DOZ e.V. visit the website (www.doz.international), Instagram page: doz_int or write an e-mail at u.b@doz.international
Voices from the project „Our Common Garden“
The project has brought me closer to nature, I have placed more emphasis on well-being by eating organic food and I have met people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. It has also helped to improve my communication skills in German.
Some of the best experiences were the gathering of the garden participants during the construction of the mud kitchen
The garden community supported me with important private advice about living in Germany, e.g. by accompanying me to appointments and helping me with administrative matters.
“The intercultural cooking events with warm-hearted people and the meetings with them beyond the garden project. The workshops and joint building activities with clay, working with herbs. Personal highlight: plastering the clay oven.”
Presence on the Media
- MDR Selbstbestimmt: Regional TV Program about people with and without disabilities who work for inclusion and self-determination (in German) – 31.08.2022.
https://www.mdr.de/religion/salvia-barrierefreier-bildungsgarten-stadtgarten-100.html
- Featured in the Video „Die Welt vor Ort“(The world on site) from the City of Leipzig (in German)–16.09.2022
https://www.leipzig.de/news/news/stadt-leipzig-erhaelt-hauptpreis-von-kommune-bewegt-welt - Interview and article on a local magazine Die KiPPE “Ein Garten für alle” (A garden for everyone), Edition N° 271 (in German) – November 2022
https://www.kippe-leipzig.de/15-news/themen/631-leipziger-gaerten-teil-7 - Interview in a local Radio, RadioBlau, Mittagspause (Midday Break) – 03.05.2023
Interview not online anymore.
Our Donors
The project OUR COMMON GARDEN is funded by the BMI (Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat – Federal Ministry of Interior and Home)
The project “Gemeinschaft Bauen” (Building Community) for the building of our outdoor kitchen in 2023 is funded by:
The open intercultural cooking events in 2023 and 2024 were founded by:
The End
