Title:
Refugees Bring Flavor of Home to Community Farms
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
Generations of newcomers have brought their tastes
and sometimes their farming skills to American soil.
These include refugees who have gotten help from
government agencies and private groups to grow crops
on community farms. These farms and gardens can be
found across the country. Bantu refugees from
Somalia helped start the New Roots Community Farm in
San Diego, California. Many of them did not have
much money or much fresh produce in their lives.
Some, especially young people, were eating unhealthy
fast food. The refugees wanted to grow their own
food. Cambodians and other groups in San Diego were
in a similar situation. A community farm seemed like
a good answer. The refugees got help from the group
that had resettled many of them, the International
Rescue Committee. But getting a permit to use some
open land owned by the city took about two years.
The New Roots Community Farm opened in two thousand
nine. The farm is almost one hectare. People can
learn how to grow foods from back home as well as
traditional American crops. The growers sell some of
their produce at a marketplace and to restaurants.
One result of the community farm is that people are
learning about foods from other people's homelands.
First lady Michelle Obama -- who has her own
vegetable garden at the White House -- visited the
farm in San Diego last year. A group called the
Somali Bantu Zigua Community has operated a farm for
several years near Boise, Idaho. Dadiri Nuro is the
group's president. He says: "We are farming people.
We like to farm." Mr. Nuru came to the United States
in two thousand four. He and his family had been
living in a refugee camp in Kenya. He says more than
fifteen crops are grown without pesticides at the
farm, including potatoes, tomatoes, kale, lettuce,
cabbage, onion and shallots. The farm also grows two
kinds of corn. Mr. Nuru explains that "we have
African corn [and] we have American corn. Americans,
they like soft corn, and the Bantu, we like hard
corn."The community group sells some of its produce
at a farmers market and has now bought storage
freezers. The group has also donated food to other
communities. The Idaho state Office for Refugees has
advice on its website about starting a community
garden. You can find a link at
voaspecialenglish.com. For VOA Special English, I'm
Alex Villarreal.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
