A different world

Anja Hüttner & José Daniel

Whether with a spade in hand, lazing in a hammock or watering flowers - Anja Hüttner and José Daniel love spending time in the intercultural garden. A natural idyll has developed between Wilhelminian-style houses on a wasteland on the Kaßberg. With herb spirals, flower beds, a barbecue area, compost heap and garden shed. People of different nationalities meet here to garden together. We asked Anja Hüttner, chairwoman of the association, and co-founder José Daniel about their work among the tomato plants, beans and sunflowers.

Turning a wasteland into a garden - how did the idea come about?
Anja Hüttner: The idea of an intercultural garden wasn't new even back then. It had already existed in various cities in Germany for decades. We wanted to implement something like this in Chemnitz because we had wanted to do something in a public space for a long time. The neighbourhood management had already made an approach to this area here and there were already ideas from the adult education centre. We then teamed up with the adult education centre and managed to rent this space from the city. Ten people founded the association in January 2010.

What did it look like before?
Anja Hüttner : It was a building site and a parking area for municipal vehicles. There were old barracks here from the GDR era. The whole area was sealed.
José Daniel: The ground was extremely poor for a garden. It consisted only of scrap and rubble. We had to add 35 centimetres of topsoil to get anything growing here. But we have a good climate in the area. We have eight hours of sun here, which is rare in Germany. I lived here at the time and could see the area from my balcony. This microclimate is good for the plants, I could already see that back then.

José Daniel came to Germany from Portugal twenty years ago. His parents were farmers there and he is happy to be able to apply his knowledge here now. He was the one who gave the garden its basic structure. "I wanted to do something for the community," he says. "It was lucky that José was there from the start. He's a professional garden designer," says Anja Hüttner, who works in the intercultural field herself, handing over a bouquet of flowers to her colleague.

There are the individual beds, there is the path, the lawn. How did you develop this plan?
José Daniel: I realised that when we start something so big and so many people get involved, it needs a structure. Otherwise it will overwhelm everyone and most people will leave. There is a circle, an order. People know where they can dig and plant, where the compost is. It's the same in agriculture. If the field isn't well tended, you won't get a harvest. And not a single bean grows from talking alone.
Anja Hüttner: Of course, it's wonderful when a project like this comes about through grassroots democracy. But the danger is that it never comes to an end. There has to be someone who gets things done. Otherwise you get bogged down and talk things apart. We realise that the existing structure is well accepted. There are no boundaries, but everyone knows where their patch is and where they can do what they want.

Why was the intercultural idea important to you?
Anja Hüttner: Six years ago, there was no place where different cultures came together. Everyone was a bit on their own. We wanted to break that up. And it actually works. Hungarians, Portuguese, Czechs and Americans meet here. Now we also have gardeners from Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Ethiopia. It really is international.

How do you reach people, especially those from foreign countries?
Anja Hüttner: We have many contacts in the city and at the adult education centre, who recommend our project to others. We are now so well known that people come to us directly. Or there are sponsors who bring families here.

Are there any reservations at the beginning?
Anja Hüttner: Of course! There are also misunderstandings. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the different cultures, but simply because people come together here. And living together has to be regulated. We have our garden rules and everyone who wants to join in has to abide by them.
José Daniel: A garden is a lot of work: mowing the lawn, fetching water, emptying the loo. It's not enough to come here and harvest tomatoes or lie in a hammock. A garden doesn't take a break. If you don't look after it, it goes wild. The people who want to use the garden need to understand that.

Have you written down the rules?
Anja Hüttner: Everyone who wants a garden bed is given the rules. They sign a lease agreement with us and pay a symbolic price per year. That simply makes it binding. We had to learn to be strict ourselves. It's all about communication. We always emphasise what the idea of the association is. The association is also like a plant that grows very slowly and needs to be nurtured.

The garden also wants to reach children and young people. There are herb seminars. Whole kindergarten groups and school classes meet here and marvel at all that nature has to offer. "We then cook together and create project beds," says Anja Hüttner. Then we chop salad, dry tea and plant herbs. There are also workshops during the holidays, which are run by the adult education centre and encourage crafts, handicrafts and pottery.

What are people looking for here?
Anja Hüttner: There is a woman from Kazakhstan who had land there herself. For her, it's a piece of home when she can work with plants. A man from Lebanon used to be a beekeeper. He is happy to be able to breed bees here again. It is also important to socialise with each other.

Are there intercultural differences when it comes to gardening?
Anja Hüttner: You can really see that it depends on the individual person. I can't generalise about which bed is tended by which nation. People are industrious or not. Conflicts don't arise because someone comes from a certain cultural background, but for other individual reasons. This is a good experience for all gardeners who come here. You can immunise yourself against racism here.
José Daniel: And direct contact is always better than believing prejudices. But of course it's hard to tell what's true and what's not, what others say. I feel that way myself. But personal characteristics have nothing to do with a person's background.

22 active gardening enthusiasts are currently involved. The association has more than 30 members. "But there must be over a thousand people who come here every year," estimates Anja Hüttner. Sometimes 300 people come at once for the annual celebration. In principle, the garden is open to everyone. Anyone who wants to meet someone from the association should make their way to Franz Mehring-Straße 39 on Wednesday afternoons.

Big city and nature awareness - are they mutually exclusive?
José Daniel: The garden is not just a place for the plants, it is also a gap in the city where children and adults can relax. Of course, it's more anonymous in a big city, but the longing for a place like this grows all the more. It's a completely different world here to the hustle and bustle out there.