6. Promoting Interaction and Mutual Learning Between Local and Refugee Communities

Arriving in the New Community

The Role of Occupation

Supporting the Integration Process

What is the Role of Community Groups?

This case discusses a community garden based in Dublin, Ireland. The garden has been in situ for over 10 years and has been well established as a key resource and place of refuge for the local community from the beginning. The garden has continued to grow since its inception and now holds many annual community events and celebrations on site, alongside its regular opening hours throughout the week. The addition of an indoor space, owned by the local authorities, but available to book free of charge for garden events, has seen the range of activities offered here grow in the past two years. While gardening is the main activity, there are now also knitting groups, repair cafes, English, Irish, French, and Arabic language classes, and many other events taking place. This case explores the role of the garden in welcoming refugees from a newly opened reception centre, the inclusion of multicultural events within the gardens calendar, and the ongoing impacts of the mutual learning opportunities for both local and refugee community members.

Background to the Irish Context

Context within the Garden

The locals view the garden as more than just a place to grow vegetables, fruits, trees, and flowers; but as a space to foster a sense of community and belonging to the area. It serves as a haven and meeting place for many local groups and like-minded people who enjoy meeting, sharing, and growing with others in its nurturing environment. Members are asked to contribute a small annual fee of five euro per household if unemployed or ten euro if employed. For refugees and asylum seekers this fee does not apply, and a committee member assists those who are interested in joining to create a membership. The garden is run by its committee members, who are elected annually, and it adheres to a constitution, rules, and code of conduct.

To keep the garden running and aid further development, the committee applies for various grants and holds fundraising events throughout the year, such as quiz nights and a cafe on their annual open day. The garden has been recognized locally and nationally through various community awards, environmental initiatives, and placemaking awards. It has been featured on both local and national news and television programmes, highlighting it as a model for successful community gardens that work for the community. The funding received by the garden from local and national government authorities spans the areas of integration and inclusion, sustainability and climate action, and enhancing inner city community spaces. This is testament to the diversity of the garden in how it is serving its community and demonstrating a standard of practice for other settings to start or develop their own community gardens.

Inclusion of Local Refugees and Asylum Seekers from a Local’s Perspective

Late 2022 saw the opening of a direct provision centre within the locality of the community garden. The proposed opening of this centre incited unrest and anti-migrant protests among some of the residents living in the area. In response to this, a non-political community group was formed to support the refugees and asylum seekers moving into the area. This group organized donation drop-off points to gather much-needed supplies for the residents, held fundraising events, and organized language classes through an offshoot of their group.

At the beginning of 2023, members of the group, who are also members of the community garden, felt they would like to get involved and support the asylum seekers and refugees. This took the form of a gardening programme for English learners that took place once a week. The initial stages of the programme saw a strong interest and attendance rate from those living in the centre. The structure of the group was as follows: from 10.30am to 12pm gardening for English learners took place (this provided an informal class where participants engaged in conversational English rather than in a classroom-style setting); from 2pm to 3pm a woman-only workshop took place, which included activities such as singing, jewellery making, mindfulness, and painting; from 3pm to 5pm a crochet and knitting group was held in the cottage; and to finish the day from 5pm to 6pm a group of men attended an English class held in the cottage. The programme was very successful and many of its participants are still members of the garden to this day.

Impact of Inclusion of Asylum Seekers and Refugees from a Local’s Perspective

The garden has seen an increase in the events and activities on offer since the inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees. A focus group was held in May 2024 to discuss the impact and future of the community garden with committee members who identified as Irish residents and have been actively involved in engaging with refugees and asylum seekers coming to the garden. The focus group discussed how they felt the garden has grown since early 2023 with it now being split between gardening activities and the more social activities and groups taking place. This caused disagreements as to the garden’s future, but these have since been resolved. One committee member discussed this growth through shared knowledge and understanding and how this has shaped their view and perception of those joining the garden.

So just around the exchange of knowledge, so I think that maybe you know there’s a certain—this kind of thing that you know you’re helping them, and you’re sharing knowledge about Ireland and try and make them feel at home and all that kind of stuff. But at the same time there’s information coming back, there’s an exchange of knowledge. So, like even just small bits, like people will say to you oh, you know when we grow that in wherever it is, whether it’s Eastern Europe or North Africa, this is what we do and why they do it.

The sharing of experiences and knowledge was discussed throughout the group and how it has shaped everyone’s understanding of different cultures. Committee members felt that this shared learning contributed to a sense of belonging and connection within the community garden, with one member commenting on seeing asylum seekers and refugee members out in the local area asking after the garden and its members.

They say “ah how are you and how’s the garden”, so it’s a lovely neighbourhood feeling. And then I met another guy in—he’s working now...give me a big hug... so they really were thankful for them for being part of the garden.

While other members have returned to the garden after a period of absence and were able to see the work that they had completed in use by garden members, contributing to feelings of pride and joy.

Actually, one of them came back last week and he saw the glass house and his eyes were like full of spark you know, he was so proud.

Committee members also felt the impact was relevant to other garden members and helped with changing the beliefs and perspectives that local members had of those with a refugee or asylum-seeking background. This was felt both in their own personal experiences and through conversations with other members on their views and understanding of refugees’ experiences.

And then we were having a chat in the hacienda, and there was certainly a couple of people who definitely had views that you know some refugees who are more worthy than others. And I know that her attitude has completely changed, yes completely turned around now. So, it’s good yeah that’s what I’m saying. So, like and sometimes you don’t have to have a big debate or discussion or an argument, all you have to do is to engage with people and learn about them, and then within six months or so she was saying “oh my God you won’t believe what those people have to go through” so yeah.

Another member reflected on this further and discussed how it impacted on the general narrative of fear and resistance towards refugee and asylum seekers amongst the wider community.

It’s really important, I think you’re right, because you get inundated with negative things about refugees or asylum seekers, but through the garden and through interacting normally it’s just like your…if you walk in the street you’re not scared, you’re not like oh this person is dangerous, it’s like oh I know this person. It’s very different.

Overall, committee members reflected very positively on how the garden has grown and developed since the inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers. On visiting the garden or attending any of the events throughout the year, one can see the diversity and pride present within its structures and members. Refugees and asylum seekers have only added to this by sharing their knowledge and culture, showing ingenuity and skill in identifying problems and providing solutions, such as building the greenhouse from recycled windows or the ability to move a sizable plant to a new location. Committee members further confirmed this sentiment during the focus group, stating;

it’s like we have a problem they ha- are the solutions for the garden...yeah they’ve been a huge asset overall, somebody who’s come through the asylum system.

What is the Future for the Garden?

The committee expressed the wish for the garden to continue to develop and adapt to the community’s needs in the future. The committee continues to apply for grants and funding to support this development, however this is a point of frustration and uncertainty as local authorities continue to send mixed messages as to how long the garden will remain in its current format.

There’s a real disconnect between what the policies are saying at the top and what’s actually happening on the ground.

While more support from local authorities and government may ensure the viability of the garden, this may also pose issues with regulations being imposed and the space becoming more like a recreational park rather than a community garden. The current structure of the garden allows for an informal type of involvement, members can come and go as they please within the opening hours and either contribute to the garden or just enjoy the space as it is, an oasis within the city. The addition of the renovated cottage on-site, and recent developments within zoning for the area, have given hope for the future of the garden itself and its place within the community.

Currently zoned as green, which means the local area office want to keep this space recreational. They’ve put a lot of money into the cottage, which isn’t ours, it’s a community facility for everybody and that bodes well for the garden surviving. I think they like the garden.

For health and social care professionals working with those with refugee experience, it is important to understand the supports and resources available within the community. It is recommended that health and social care professionals develop and foster relationships with community organisations and services in their locality to maintain up-to-date information and knowledge of their availability and to better serve those accessing their services. It is important to be able to signpost these supports so that people with refugee experience learn who they can contact for assistance with issues or problems they may be having. The support available to people with refugee experience will vary greatly between countries, but also even across different localities within the same country. Consequently, health and social care professionals need to ensure that they have a good understanding and awareness of the different organisations in their localities and keep up to date with changes in these and the services they provide.

To implement the learning gained from this chapter, the reader is first asked to reflect on the following in relation to their practice area:

1. Can you identify relevant organisations or sources of support that are available in your local community for new entrants?
2. Can you give a brief summary as to why each may be useful to someone with refugee experience?

If it is felt that this task is difficult to complete, or that perhaps the reader may be aware of the organisations available but are not clear about what services they provide or how to access them, then this has identified a gap in our knowledge. While as health and social care professionals we cannot be expected to know of all the potential services available, understanding the key ones relevant to your client group/service users would be beneficial to your practice. As such, the reader is now asked to complete the following exercise in relation to their current practice and caseload:

1. Identify two or three organisations/community groups/programmes that may be useful for those with refugee experience.
2. Investigate what process you would need to follow to refer someone in your care to them or to access the group/service.
3. Reflect on what support is needed from the health and social care professional perspective: is this something that the individual can attend alone, or will they require support/check ins throughout? How does this fit within your caseload?

Lastly, the reader is asked to consider their own place in promoting interaction and mutual learning between the local and refugee community: what is the health and social care professional’s role, what do we need to do/understand/be aware of to best serve these communities and what learning can we gain? Consider how you can better connect with community organisations in your locality:

1. How might you make use of these links to enhance the everyday life of those with refugee experience?
2. Reflect on your practice context. Is there a way that you might connect with another professional and, together with the person from a refugee community, use these supports to promote their sense of inclusion and participatory citizenship?
3. What can you all learn from one another?