By CASEY NEILL
BUDDING green thumbs are gaining more than gardening skills at Dandenong’s Pop-Up Park.
The Red Cross is offering gardening classes to new arrivals with support from Mission Australia, Bunnings, City of Greater Dandenong and the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship (OMAC).
Red Cross stakeholder and volunteer engagement team leader Kim Hutchinson said most participants were asylum seekers.
“It helps them get an understanding about gardening in Australia, different conditions and things that work and grow here,” she said.
Two of the 12 plots in the garden will remain demonstration spaces for future courses, while the others will be open to class graduates.
“They can come back on a regular basis to sustain those,” Ms Hutchinson said.
“They’ll be communal. All the produce will be shared.”
She said participants were gaining gardening knowledge, improving their access to healthy food, practising their English skills and meeting new people.
“A lot of the participants actually know a lot more about gardening than what we do,” she said.
“Some people have horticulture degrees from their own countries.
“But the conditions here are so different.
“There are some people in the group that know a lot and some that know nothing, but they all come along and get their hands dirty.”
About 20 people are enrolled in this eight-week course, most from Afghanistan, Iran and Sri Lanka.
“Gardening is a common language,” Ms Hutchinson said.
“We do have interpreters that come along who can help.
“It’s great to see people happy and sharing a learning together and being part of the community.”
