A traditional courtyard garden created for the Bloom Garden Festival highlights the impact of war in Syria.
Bloom, the country's biggest gardening festival, will take place from 2 – 6 June in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. Preparations are in full swing, and many gardens are being created which draw attention to important societal and cultural issues.
The entry from the international humanitarian response agency GOAL recreates a Syrian courtyard garden, presenting an image of the country in times of peace and at war. Its designer Brian Burke believes that Bloom is
The perfect forum to convey a strong message of this type.
Chief Executive Officer of GOAL Barry Andrews explains that the courtyard garden will be relocated to Monasterevin County Kildare, where many Syrian refugees are to be resettled. He hopes that that they will enjoy the garden, especially
If it evokes memories for them.
A group of Syrians from Monasterevin visited the garden this afternoon. For one mother and son from Aleppo, the smell of olive trees reminds them of happier times,
We feel like we are at home, but in Ireland.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 30 May 2016. The reporter is Philip Bromwell.
