Celebrating 5 years with a tree planting

A group of families, friends and supporters came together on 11th December to celebrate the anniversary of the first Syrian families arriving in Shaftesbury in 2017.

It was almost 5 years to the day that two brothers and their wives arrived in Shaftesbury to find a place of safety from the civil war in Syria. A civil war that had destroyed their homes and livelihoods and placed their lives and those of their children at great risk.

3 trees were planted in celebration, remembrance and thanksgiving with the three families who have settled here as part of the UK and UN resettlement programme.

This is Alfred recorded the event here Listen from 5 minutes 20 seconds

The trees were dressed with doves carrying messages of thanks, promises and wishes for the future.

After the tree planting on a very frosty day we returned to the warmth of Motcombe Village Pavilion for food, dancing and fun with friends.

Thanks

We are grateful for the kind permission of Motcombe Parish Council the trees will form part of the Royal Gillingham Forest on Motcombe Meadows. The trees, stakes and ties were supplied at cost by Landford Trees and funded by Dorset Wildlife Trust as part of Royal Gillingham Forest

Tree planting text from the Shaftesbury Refugee Group:
’Welcome to this tree planting
An anniversary
A remembrance
A thanksgiving
A celebration
A look to a positive future.

Who do we want to remember?
What are we grateful for?
What do we promise for our future together?

5 years almost to the day
11 and more years since the civil uprising in Deraa

We recognise in these three families the courage and fortitude of all who choose to flee oppression. An heroic choice to keep your families safe. A hard choice with the sadness of leaving, family, friends, neighbours of leaving homes, businesses, land behind
We recognise the strength to endure the travel and survive the camps

We celebrate your arrival in our community via the programme of support provided by the UK and UN to resettle 20,000 people in the most difficult circumstances. We know it is too few given the almost 12m displaced in Syria

We thank the people of Shaftesbury, called upon by the Clergy Wives to public meetings in 2017 and whose generosity founded our small charity and put in place the volunteers and befrienders that helped the families so much at the outset and to today

We thank Dorset County Council whose organisation, support and people have had such a profound effect on the families not only here in Shaftesbury but across the County

Most of all we thank the families for coming to join our community. For bringing their love, their dignity and their strength. For providing the opportunity for people to show generosity and, to show compassion We celebrate them, their children and the new children Ahmad and Hamza that have come to join us. We thank them for sharing their culture and cuisine.

The symbolism of the trees, their support and connection to this part of our shared Earth is obvious.

We want you to feel rooted here and to know you, your children and their children can look at these trees as a symbol of belonging.’

Postscript:

It was a wet spring and a very dry summer and two of our trees did not thrive as well as we had hoped. Not to worry, Imad and Stuart put their backs into another planting in January 2024. We continue to nurture the trees as we nurture our friendships.