Community Gardening
Salih has learnt to make the most of what the community has to offer him. He enjoys singing with his choir on Tuesdays - Oasis and Bob Marley songs are his favourite - and volunteering at Culpeper Community Garden twice a week. Salih was introduced to the garden by his Advance support worker, Simon. Culpeper Community Garden is a beautiful communal space in Islington, which works with mental health, disability and learning difficulty organisations, as well as primary schools and excluded children (to name a few). Visitors are welcome to the garden, which hosts events like poetry sessions and summer barbeques, and upon a visit you’ll find groups of people wandering through the herb gardens, enjoying a picnic or just relaxing in the natural environment. The garden welcomes volunteers to its bi-weekly sessions, who can join in by digging up the flowerbeds and harvesting the vegetable patches, maintaining the ponds, sweeping up the leaves and many more seasonal and cathartic tasks! Salih loves volunteering in the garden, and enjoys that the local community and even tourists can make the most of his hard work. His favourite thing about working in the garden is ‘getting (his) hands dirty!’ and his favourite flower is the daffodil, because he loves the way it smells.
Salih and many other volunteers and workers have helped create and maintain a beautifully serene and idyllic oasis, in a very built up and busy area of London, and their dedication, hard work and generous attitudes are an inspiration to us all.