The power of diversity: together we’re stronger

Almost two decades ago we started a project to build a garden with asylum seekers in Sydney. We had almost no money, a tiny space, and lots of shade. We, as organisers, didn’t have the skills we needed to construct our garden. Everything seemed stacked against us. But we had a lot of ideas and we had plentiful free materials, glass bottles available from nearby pubs and cafes that were just being thrown out. When we asked the asylum seekers and refugees if any of them had the skills we needed, they did. And together we worked to build our beautiful garden, for almost no investment, with lots of resourceful skilled people making it a reality. Together we came up with creative ideas for what to grow in shade and up walls and in the end, we had a beautiful safe space in which to sit and chat, grow a little food and just be. On the surface, it seemed like we didn’t have much. But when we really looked we saw we had an abundance of all that we needed, we just needed to be open to the possibilities. #valuediversity#valuethemarginal#permaculture