“One day, I was picking wax beans in a shared garden, a child was watching me and then came up to me and said, ‘I didn’t know that’s how fries grew!’ That’s when I realized that school wasn’t teaching children about nature, that we needed to teach them to get to know plants, vegetables, and fruit, to give them a taste for nature and the desire to protect it.” This is what Nadine Lahoud, the founder of Veni Verdi, recounts.
The association’s goal is to raise awareness among all audiences about environmental, food, and social issues through hands-on workshops in the garden. The creation and maintenance of vegetable gardens, mainly on the rooftops of middle schools in eastern Paris, is its main educational tool.
Guest: Nadine Lahoud
Nadine created the Veni Verdi association to raise awareness, in Paris and the suburbs, among citizens and young people about ecological issues through vegetable gardens. Nadine’s passion for living things comes from her childhood in Lebanon, which she had to flee during the war. She left behind her memories there, her village of Beiteddine, and the large family orchard she thought she would take over. It is ultimately in Paris that she continues this unfinished plant-based story, in a collective way.
My questions
- What was in your family’s orchard in Lebanon?
- How did you get the idea for Veni Verdi?
- How many of you are there? (key figures, etc.)
- What are your main activities?
- What is being harvested today on the roof of Flora Tristan Middle School, in the 20th district?
- How are the harvests used?
- Co-construction is one of your values? How does it work in practice?
- Do you have in mind any children’s words or questions that moved you?
- What makes you the happiest today? What are you proud of?
- How can someone get involved with the association?
- What is your dream?
- Your favorite recipe?
Questions for middle school students: What is it like to garden? What do you like the most? What have you learned? What would you like to do to go further?
Resources to go further
All episodes
A podcast hosted by Louise Browaeys with sound engineering by Matthieu Brillard
