Lian Ngia and his family uprooted their lives a decade ago to flee Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and escape to the United States.
Since arriving in DeKalb County, they’ve had to make many adjustments, but a nonprofit community garden in Decatur has helped them stay connected to their homeland’s culture. Decatur’s Kitchen Garden, located in Legacy Park, allows immigrants and refugees to grow their own produce, often including crops that are hard to find in American grocery stores.
Ngia, 65, has two plots within the garden. Last Monday, he stepped across soil looking at peppers, mustard greens, long beans and roselle — one of the most widely available vegetables in his home country.
“In Burma, there’s a lot of gardening and a lot of farming,” Ngia told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through a Burmese translator, Leela Basnet. “He’s totally familiar with how to garden and when to grow that and that. He’s an expert, because he came from a small town where he doesn’t even really go to the shop. He just grabs from his garden, cook and eat.”
About a mile from Downtown Decatur, dozens of growers work the 35 garden plots, which average 600 square feet apiece. As Legacy Park prepares for redevelopment into several housing communities, sports fields and shared offices, several nonprofits who support the garden are working on infrastructure improvements to make the garden even more accessible.
“Having that connection to the land as well as a source of food has some practical purposes on the bottom line for your family and the economics of your household,” said Robin Chanin, executive director of Global Growers Network, the organization that oversees the community garden. “It has kind of more meaningful aspects with regards to being able to preserve and share your culture.”
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
‘Location is important’
Global Growers Network founded Decatur’s Kitchen Garden in 2012 through a partnership with the city.
Given the large number of immigrants and refugees who relocate to the Atlanta area, often through Clarkston, Chanin said Decatur made sense for their flagship garden project.
“Location was very important,” she said. “Most families that we connect with are working or living in and around the Clarkston community. Being connected with close proximity to Clarkston as well as connection through MARTA for families who don’t yet have a car, that was another reason this was a good site.”
Once word spread about the project, several local community groups representing various cultures contacted Chanin’s organization to see how they could get involved. Chanin said community members from Asian countries, including Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, were especially interested.
Global Growers Network, which now operates nearly 10 community gardens in DeKalb, provides the infrastructure, seeds, soil and gardening equipment, while the growers provide the know-how.
“As much as possible, we really try to let growers come in and decide what they’re going to do within the different production areas and growing areas in the garden,” she said.
Since the gardens are now roughly a decade old, Chanin said some of the shared areas, drainage paths and access points to the area have begun to deteriorate. Love Tito’s, the philanthropic arm of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Food Well Alliance recently partnered with the garden for a fundraising effort to upgrade the space as part of its Block to Block program.
“Food is a really important part of culture,” Lindsey Bates, philanthropic programs manager for Love Tito’s, said. “It’s an important part of helping people feel comfortable and get settled and enjoy the new environment that they’re in.”
Finding a new home
Ngia and one of his sons came to the U.S. through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2010. His wife, Tei Sung, their two daughters and their three other sons were able to come to America three years later.
“Most of the citizens, they want democracy against the military. And even now, a lot of people get killed,” Ngia said through the translator, referencing his military-run homeland. “… A lot of people flee from their country, their own township to look for a safe place. It was not really that bad around their time (in the early 2010s). However, it was still bad and now it’s getting worse.”
Ngia and Sung live with three of their sons, and they often use the vegetables their grow in curries, broths and soups. The couple, who both work in food manufacturing industries, live less than 15 minutes from the garden and tend to their plants at least three times a week.
“They don’t really have to shop for groceries,” Ngia said through the translator. “They can eat any plants that they grow over here. He feels great about it because it’s something that he has grown.”
They’ve been able to meet other families who fled to the U.S. to escape dangerous situations, and the garden has given them something to share. After Sung had a successful garlic harvest last spring, she taught a planting workshop to several other growers.
Chanin said the COVID-19 pandemic exposed everyone to supply chain issues, which showed the value of growing your own crops.
“I think for many of our growers that we partner with, that’s an experience that they’ve faced already in their lives,” she said. “Their lives have been disrupted by forces beyond their control. You don’t necessary take for granted where your next meal is coming from.”
Credit: Daniel Varnado
Credit: Daniel Varnado
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