[For A Cozy, Creative Community] Update 1: Green Streets

In just 24 hours, we have reached 31% of our goal amount for the GoFundMe campaign! From here on out, I’ll be posting daily about the specific activities that this campaign is assisting. Posting on Medium allows me to make the update more aesthetically-pleasing, which is why I’ll be using this platform instead of GoFundMe’s update tool.

Today’s highlight will be GREEN STREETS.

WHAT IS ‘GREEN STREETS’?

Fun fact: the original name for this activity wasn’t meant to be Green Streets… it was actually supposed to be Pimp My Street. However, as that title is understandably not the most promotable, we took on the name of Green Streets. Through this activity, we hope to promote civic engagement through excitement about beautifying the area around one’s home; whether it is through actual green space, painting, seating, lighting, or other decorations, there is a lot of potential to shape the built environment and utilize the community’s creative energy.

THE ORIGINAL GREEN STREET

Up until a few months ago, the colors that defined Eleonas Refugee Camp were brown and grey; brown for the sand that coats shoes, floors, and faces, and grey for the dull concrete and metal structures throughout the space. In this space, a group of residents decided to beautify their street. Taking matters into their own hands, they replaced their gravel street surface with a paved concrete path, and built in wooden planters to house a variety of plants. They also installed shelves for shoes, reconfigured wiring to make street lights, and even built a community garden and barbecue pit in the back corner of the street. This original Green Street in Camp 2 that sprang organically from the desires of residents to change the nature of their neighborhood is the inspiration for the larger Green Streets program that Project Elea has been implementing and hopes to expand.

WHAT HAS PROJECT ELEA BEEN UP TO?

Since arriving at Eleonas for round 2 of volunteering, I took it upon myself to redesign our Green Streets activity. Taking a step back, I hoped to focus more on community involvement and engaging residents to express their specific desires for their streets. Thus, we began a three-step process: the Pop-Up Campaign, Street Meetings, and Implementation.

The Green Streets Pop-Up Campaign took place over 2.5 weeks, hosting six pop-up events, involving nine different Project Elea volunteers surveying 88 residents of all ages, ethnic background, and gender and engaging hundreds more through door-to-door outreach and tea. Through this, we were able to ‘take the activity to the people’ and show our sincere motivation to collaborate with the community.

When approached during outreach, some residents were hesitant to come, as they did not fully understand why we were rolling out large rolls of fake grass, setting out flowers, and serving tea. However, once they realized that we volunteers genuinely wanted to listen to their opinions, many opened up and passionately expressed their frustrations and hopes.

Following the Pop-Up Campaign, we began Street Meetings with individual streets to hone in on their specific ideas. Simultaneously, we are beginning the Implementation phase with streets that have completed their meetings. While it is taking longer than expected to finish one street, it has been a great learning experience working alongside residents. I’ve picked up random bits of Farsi (such as the words for nail, screw, and hammer), as well as some construction skills along the way! We’re currently still working on our first street in Camp 1, where residents decided in their meeting that they all wanted to have planter gardens! We hope to finish by the end of this week.

Too often decisions in emergency contexts are made on behalf of residents without being inclusive of their input. While public engagement campaigns are time-consuming and have results that are not immediately tangible, without listening, one cannot claim to be for the people. As we have been moving into street meetings and implementation of residents’ ideas for their streets, we hope that the community at large can be proud of their efforts and feel a sense of ownership over their living environment.

If you feel inclined to support Project Elea’s community-building activities such as Green Streets, please visit the GoFundMe campaign and donate what you can!