The Community Gardens Where Refugees Are Putting Down Roots

The Community Gardens Where Refugees Are Putting Down Roots

The Community Gardens Where Refugees Are Putting Down Roots On a warm morning in June, dozens of people have gathered in a community garden in Traiskirchen, a small town just outside Vienna best known for its refugee center, which is the largest in Austria. The Middle Eastern breakfast, freshly prepared every Saturday in the open kitchen, has become a staple in the town’s social calendar. There’s fresh falafel, generous portions of flatbread, hummus and baba ghanoush, and crisp slices of bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers from the organic garden. Colorful canopies above the tables offer some much-needed shade, and a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” mixes with the squealing laughter of children running around.  In the garden, people from the refugee center next door are tending to the neat rows of herbs, vegetables and fruit with the help of head gardener Ahmad Makhzoum. The harvest is split equally three ways — a third is sold at the garden’s vegetable stall to support the project, …