Göttingen › International Gardens Göttingen e.V.  The "International Gardens association" in Göttingen is the mother project of the Intercultural Gardens in Germany. The idea of this project arose during a lunch meeting of a group of Bosnian women in the Women's Café in the Göttingen Refugee Advice Centre. The women felt that, in the long run, they needed to be doing more than "simply drinking tea and making table decorations". They were eager to get out of institutions run by social workers, and finally take their everyday lives into their own hands again. The women themselves clearly pinpointed the importance of self-reliance and working for their own subsistence in order to lead what they perceived as a tolerable life in exile: "At home we had our gardens. That's what we missed the most. We so much wanted to have gardens in Germany as well." That was in 1995. One year later the International Gardens project leased its first piece of land. Starting with a gardening project for Bosnian women, the concept of the International Gardens developed gradually from practice.  Meanwhile many local and imimmigrant families and also singles from various ethnic-cultural backgrounds and various social settings, lifestyles and age groups have joined the garden to help and actively contribute. In total, there are about 280 people from 19 different countries who contribute to the managing and cultivating of four community gardens in Göttingen. On the basis of biological gardening, crafting as well as environmental education and language courses new fields of activity and experience arise for the participants. The "International Gardens" are nowadays a numerously awarded and federal wide approved project for intercultural work of integration as well as for engagement in Civil Society. Since 1999, the organisation is trying to disseminate the project's idea via public relations and consulting other garden projects on site. (more information about the Göttingen project see pdf-article) |