Benefits of community gardens for Burmese refugees

Abstract

The community gardens aim to improve the quality of life for the people encountering modern urbanization. The community garden is an important component that benefits refugees who have resettled in the US. Some Burmese refugees have been involved in different types of gardening programs for purpose of saving their food expenses and promoting social and health benefits. This study is exploring the social benefits to Burmese refugees who are involving in three different types of urban gardening programs including home gardens, community gardens, and a mixture of garden models. The goal of the research is to compare the effectiveness of each type of garden program in promoting better socialization for the Burmese refugee community. To collect data, semi-structured interviews (Louise and Alison, 1994) will be used to explore more in-depth discussions with Burmese refugees to understand their level of participation and satisfaction of participating in three different types of gardens. Additionally, garden managers were interviewed to gain a better understanding of their support for the garden as well as interactions with Burmese gardeners. The participants including gardeners and organizers from Columbia MO, Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri were recruited through their organizational websites and snowball sampling methods. Snowball sampling methods were used to recruit the Burmese Gardeners because it is difficult to get access to their population due to Covid 19. The qualitative data were analyzed by using Nvivo for coding and data analysis. The results of this study may identify the most effective model of community gardens which can be socially beneficial to Burmese refugee populations.