Encouraging individuals and communities upon their talents
Several regions, minorities, and non-conformist communities or have been suppressed throughout history. Their beliefs, background or culture have been the reasons why the majority have stopped them from receiving an essential human needs, such as food, health or educational support. Consequently, this leads several of them into trading as the main tool that would provide them with enough financial outcome to provide food and health support to the family without the need of much education.
Roma community is the example of a community that has been facing several suppressions throughout history and has managed to deal with such suppressions through trading. It has become the only tool to provide them with their daily needs. As mentioned in early articles, “Spread Your Wings and Fly” Project will focus on encouraging Roma community upon what they are gifted at and not upon what the majority expects them to be like. Subconsciously, this will create positive images related to Roma Community and consequently help transmit this image to them as well.
Upon this, at Adra Albania, we contributed at encouraging the trading skill that Roma Community already possesses. For several weeks we have been working on building Sack Gardens that will help Roma families to improve nutrition, food security, and income. Sack Gardens, also known as “vertical farms or gardens”, are tall sacks filled with soil from which plant life grows. This concept for a small, portable garden is good for areas were the gardener may have to continually relocate or where there is little or no healthy soil (such as the case of Roma Community in Fushe Kruja).
Due to their vertical nature, sack gardens are also fairly efficient in terms of using water.
As such, today we delivered sack gardens to every single family living in the Roma Community in Fushe Kruja. Together with sack gardens, we provided over 1500 roots of different vegetables and about the same amount of different flowers. All of these need to be planted in the sack gardens and through time they will look like the pictures attached. Through them, Roma families will be enabled to be self-sufficient and even trade plants grown out of sack gardens.
In other words, through this part of the project, we have hoped to contribute not only encouraging and supporting the trading skills of the Roma Individuals but also on other areas of their life as well. For example, through sack gardens, they will be able to consume a healthier food and consequently lead themselves towards a healthier lifestyle. A healthier lifestyle will avoid the need and expenses for expenses on the long run.