A community garden in Domboshava offered young people from four countries a practical lesson in how food production can become a platform for enterprise, cooperation and community participation.
The 28 participants, drawn from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Denmark and Spain, visited the garden on Saturday as part of the Co-Creating Green Safe Spaces Youth Exchange, observing how local volunteers organise production, involve different generations and generate income from what they grow.
The visit became particularly tangible when participants bought pickled beetroot produced from the garden's harvest, giving them an example of how a community initiative can move beyond growing food to processing, packaging and selling products.
“Unity brings success,” one participant said after the visit, reflecting on the involvement of people of different ages in maintaining the garden and working towards a shared objective.
The participants engaged volunteers on issues ranging from garden management and youth participation to marketing and the sustainability of the project. The interaction also highlighted the contribution of both women and men to the community initiative.
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Another participant described the engagement as a two-way learning experience.
“I enjoyed being asked questions at the garden,” the participant said. “It felt like an exchange of knowledge. We could learn from the volunteers and contribute our own ideas.”
For the visiting youth, the garden demonstrated that a green space can have functions extending beyond environmental conservation. Its activities combine food production with income generation, while the shared space creates opportunities for people to work together and participate in community life.
The experience also prompted participants to consider what makes a space a Green Safe Space. Their reflections pointed towards an approach that links environmental sustainability with inclusion, livelihoods, relationships and collective responsibility.
The Domboshava visit formed part of a seven-day exchange program aimed at exposing young people to community-based approaches and encouraging them to share experiences across countries.
The group later visited the Domboshava Curves, combining the cultural and environmental experience with informal interaction among participants.
The exchange is being hosted by the Rural Enterprise Trust of Zimbabwe in partnership with SURCOD, Søholm 4H and Las Niñas del Tul, under an Erasmus+ Capacity Building initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Danish Youth Council.
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