Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg › Intercultural Gardens Hamburg's Wilhelmsburg district has 40.000 inhabitants. The families that have been there for a long while have traditionally practiced farming or horticulture. With industrialization, big shipyards developed along the coast. With them came Polish or Russian longshoremen, who settled in Wilhelmsburg. Since the 50's, for the first time Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Yugoslavian, Greek and Turkish families came there. Today people from 40 nations live together in Wilhelmsburg.  The work on the docks has changed, many jobs have been lost. The average income in Wilhelmsburg is low, the social problems are huge. In the abandoned factory areas new businesses and living areas are supposed to be built and – in this central location – some new development initiated. With this background, an initiative began for setting up an intercultural garden. Th e interested gardeners found each other with the help of counseling centers, the church, as well as a variety of interwoven social networks in Wilmelmsburg.The search for a suitable plot proved difficult. Many plots still carried a heavy historical burden: industrial contamination or from Second World War. On the site that was eventually found things could only be planted at first in "Big-Bags" - large plastic bags. The association presents itself to the district and is open to people who want to become at home in Wilhelmsburg. With a language class, not only the possibilities for mutual understanding are enhanced, but also skills are provided that are helpful for access to employment. |