We have made peace with the US, but the memories are still very sad.

Vy Thi Tuan Nguyen in her garden

My childhood was heavily influenced by the war. We didn’t have any electricity, only oil and it was difficult for us to do our homework, since between 1964 and 1975 everyday life was constantly interrupted by the bombs. It had been going on for 11 years. I saw so many dead people. We all had to flee to the south of Vietnam, there was only one street towards the Cambodian border and the border to Laos. We all had to carry all our possession on our back and any of us were injured, but there was not enough medical care. And there were constant bombing raids on that particular street as they tried to kill us. A splinter found its way into my head. Nowadays, of course, we have made peace with the US, but the memories are still very sad, since I lost so many friends during the war. It’s still painful. Whenever I feel unwell because of the memories I go to my garden, it’s like a therapy, it makes me feel better. Also, it’s good to have some company here, you always meet people. You can talk a little and get to know each other a bit, and if you are sad it cheers you up. Sometimes we cook and eat together, it’s a nice community out here.

Vy Thi Tuan Nguyen, Vietnamese, Wuhlegärten

The women of the Rosenduft Gaerten

going to rosenduft gaerten

the new season

small steams

the women

I arrived as a refugee in Berlin from Bosnia in 1995, because of the war. In my country I had a very big garden where I cultivated a lot of vegetables, I am fond of them! Indeed I really love Sataras, that is mixed vegetables, just vegetables. Moreover we use many of them for medicinal purposes: peppermint for istance and also roots, many different ones. Also parseley is used, it’s very good, dried to drink, it’s also good for bladder. However when I am ill what feel me better it is just börek! We eat a lot but many different sorts, here it’s known just with cheese and meat, but we have it also with potatoes, pumpkin, with all possible.

Almira-Ada, Bosnian 

cultivating

the new plants

the women

great efforts!

I had to leave my country when I was 16 because of the war. There I helped my parents in the garden and we had almost everything: cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, parsley, carrots... here in berlin I have my own garden and I do not miss any ingredient because, coming from an European country, on gardenplants, ist almost the same as in Germany.

Seka, Bosnian

planting seeds

rosenduft gaerten

 

I come from the very southest part of Nigeria and arrived in Germany five years ago, actually when I met my husband. He is from Berlin. And since when I arrived here I missed nature, because here we are so far from it! In my country instead - even if I grew up in a big city - nature was much closer  (even the moon, that was so bright) and when I came back to my village, every family used to have its own farm or fish. In our garden we cultivated a lot of vegetables, they are very common in the South and we ate a lot! The most popular we had a sort of "fluted pumpkin" but it is very different from yours and very healthy and nutritious. The Igbos call it ugu but we (the Efiks) call it ikong, I do not know the botanical name... Unfortunately I can find it just in one or two shops here in Berlin, but it is too expensive and too dried. So I have tried to bring some seeds from my town and I planted here. They grew up, but they were not so good because of the weather. In fact, also in Nigeria it grows just in the South because it needs humid soil.

Susann, Nigerian

http://www.stiftung-interkultur.de/berlin/berlin-kreuzberg-rosenduft

http://www.suedost-ev.de/interkultureller_garten/interkultureller_garten.php