A new cultivator has been purchased for the Garden of Hope at Shariya Camp from donations to Operation Hope.

The heavy work of cultivating the Garden of Hope has been made a lot easier thanks to donations to the Garden of Hope.

New equipment to help maintenance

Last week, a hand cultivator and farm tractor were delivered for the Garden of Hope at Shariya Refugee camp and the Equine Therapy Centre. Both are near Duhok, Kurdistan, Northern Iraq run by Springs of Hope Foundation. The garden is used for growing food for refugees at the camp, while vegetables and fruit are grown at the Equine Therapy Centre. All produce is distributed to the refugee community, students, staff and also to the 7 horses.

The video shows the gardener  Sami Kcho, as he happily put the cultivator to good use. 

In the Garden of Hope

The small tractor and trailer will make a huge difference in the workload during garden harvesting and farm maintenance. Up to 150 kg of cucumbers and capsicums are harvested in the Garden each day during the growing season. Transporting the crops from the green houses to the weighing and bagging area for distribution is a big job. The tractor will make this a lot easier. The tractor and trailer will bed to top up the soil in the Garden every year. Transporting garbage to the rubbish facility using the tractor will help maintain a cleaner and healthier garden environment.

At the equine centre

Several hundred trees now surround the Equine Therapy Centre. The tractor and trailer will be invaluable during harvesting of the fruit trees and transporting wood cut from 100 fast growing trees for sale to farmers. Horse manure will be transported from the Equine Therapy Centre to be used in the Garden. The tractor and trailer will also be very useful to help maintain the road between the camp and Equine Therapy Centre – especially during the wet/flooding winters.