Abu Dhabi: Students at the UAE University (UAEU) have created a 500-square-metre garden on their campus to grow organic food that will be distributed to charity organisations.
Organised by the university’s Architectural Engineering Institute, the initiative is just one of many programmes launched as part of the UAE’s Year of Giving campaign, and aims to bolster a sense of community spirit and volunteerism among its students.
“The project has been launched to encourage our students to work together as volunteers in giving back to the community. We all have a common experience of living in a place and country that has been giving us so much in terms of education, and we are now paying the country back in our own way,” said Dr Sahera Bleibleh, who is leading the project.
“As well as giving back to the community, the project also takes our students back to the indigenous cultural ways of how our ancestors used to live and grow their food. I tell the students that this is a good opportunity for them to have a conversation with their grandparents about what they used to plant, what techniques they employed, and how they took care of their plants,” she added.
Bleibleh explained that several different types of organic foods are being farmed in the garden, with plans on expanding their range of plants as the project grows.
“We currently plant mango, lemon, mint, parsley and zaatar. This is a growing project, so we are planning to plant more food plants as time goes on. Some plants require more water and maintenance than others — the lemon tree, for example, needs watering every other day — so it is easier for us to plant at the moment with the resources we have.
“After the harvesting we are going to explore local charity organisations to donate to. Some groups that we are looking at include the Emirates Red Crescent, and any hospitals that deal with organic food,” she added.
According to Bleibleh, the garden will remain on the UAEU’s campus as a passing legacy from student to student.
“The idea is to leave the garden as a student legacy to pass on to other new students who join the university, it will be for them to maintain and look after the garden,” she said.
“The students will learn how to grow food in a sustainable way and, more importantly, healthy organically grown food. This will enhance and refresh concepts in their mind about the environment, and their consumption and eating habits,” she added.
