MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – With the coming of spring, cultivation in the Hevsel Gardens, added to the World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2015, has begun. Farmers have begun to plant crops such as lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and onions and they will harvest their crops in summer. Saliha Kaya is one of these farmers. She makes a living by cultivating her land. Every day, she waters her crops and in the summer, she collects the crops and sells them in the market. She has worked in the Hevsel Gardens for 40 years with her children. Saliha raised her children by selling her crops. Saliha begins to work in her garden in February by planting seeds and she works in the garden until November.

She spends nine months in her garden

Saliha gets up early in the mornings and goes to her garden at 7.00 a.m. and she returns to her home at night. “I moved here after my marriage. The border of our garden starts next to the street and ends near the riverside. I have worked in the garden since I moved here. My life has passed between our garden and house. My house is located in the city center but I come here at seven o’clock in the morning to work. After finishing my work, I return to my house at night. There are dozens of families having gardens here. We don’t work only three months a year. We work in the gardens for nine months.”

“I spend all my day in the garden”

Saliha harvests her crops in summer, “In the morning, it is very cold. The people think our job is easy to do. But we come here early in the mornings and work until night. We plant our vegetables, water them and at the end, we collect them. We plant almost all vegetables such as lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and onions. I like working here even if it is hard. I have worked here for 40 years but I have never tired of working in the garden.”

“I feel good when I work in the garden”

Saliha tells us they make a living by working in the garden, “After harvesting, we take the vegetables to the market and sell them. Working in the garden doesn’t make you rich or poor; you just stand on your own legs. Each year, our income changes, sometimes we earn a very good income but sometimes it can be bad, it depends on the quality of the crops. But this situation isn’t a reason for us to leave our job or garden. I am not a young woman but I feel good when I work in the garden. The garden, trees are my life.”