Green-fingered grandmothers help to transform Cov garden during extended holiday in city
FOR the many people visiting the UK on tourist visas, Covid-19 has left them stranded and unable to return back home.
And for those stuck in this limbo, it has been a chance to knuckle down and start a lockdown project until it is safe to travel.
This was the case for two Iraqi grandmothers visiting their family in Tile Hill in Coventry. What was meant to be a holiday turned into an extended stay, but the outcome has not only been more quality family time, but a stunning transformation that has turned their patch of lawn into an oasis.
The Telegraph was contacted by Mihraban Rasoul, who shared the back yard creations of his mother Sabria and mother in law Fatima. He was amazed to see how they have transformed the family home he shares with his wife and two children in Tile Hill.
Mihraban said: “They were doing very well and they were able to grow flowers from seeds. They were happy. In addition to that, my children spent their time at home with them.”
The pair have grown tomatoes, and vibrant flowers from seeds, as well as setting up wooden structures to train plants and veg in the future.
Mihraban said the garden is now filled with towering pots of perrenials, fresh veggies and colourful window box displays.
Mihraban admits that all of them living in such close quarters for this long of a time has been challenging, but the garden has been a great escape, and a chance for his children to really get to know their grandmothers.
Mihraban said: “I remember in the last few years the kids were moaning why their friends have their grannies around them and they didn’t. But this year they had their birthday parties with their grannies, and now they are closer to each other.”
It has also been a rare opportunity for Fatima and Sabria to bond, because in Iraq they never have a chance to chat like they have here. He explained: “I was listening to them talking about their personal lives, their extended family. They were trying to understand their political views, it was very nice being together for 7 or 8 months.”
Fatima and Sabria’s visit has also been a great chance for the children to learn Kurdish, and get to know more about their roots. He added: “I am always trying to encourage my children [to visit] Iraq to learn the language, culture and family.”
And for his mother Sabria, it was a way of transporting her back to her childhood in Iraq: “Sabria grew up in a village in Iraq, when she was younger she grew tomatoes, cucumbers, and flowers and she told my sister back in Iraq to look after her flowers. In the last 30 years she didn’t have a chance to grow anything like that, so when she arrived here she was very enthusiastic about doing something in the garden.”
Mihraban is originally from Sulaymaniyah city, which sits in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. As the war gripped Iraq from 2003, some were forced to flee as refugees. Now, a thriving Kurdish community exists in the UK, and those that came to Coventry have settled primarily north of the city.
He is now married to wife Tara and they have two children, but setting up family life here was tough. Mihraban arrived in Coventry from Iraq in 2000 as a refugee, working first in a factory, then as a freelance interpreter and now abroad with the British Government. His wife Tara has just completed her PHD.
Mihraban said there were some adjustments that Sabria and Fatima had to make to successfully garden in Coventry. He had to hide the watering can from them because they are so used to watering plants constantly in Iraq’s dry heat, but said they soon realised Coventry’s rainy weather did that for them.
The Home Office have extended tourist visas for all of those unable to return safely back to their home country, and at the time of our phone interview with Mihraban, Fatima and Sabria were due back on a flight to Iraq that week. One thing they can be sure of though, is their little patch will be well looked after.