Under the cobblestones,
the plant!
A concrete concept
Nadine’s devotion to nature comes from her childhood, in this Lebanon where she was born and which she had to flee during the war. She left her memories there, her village of Beiteddine and the vast family orchard that she thought she would take back one day. It is finally in Paris that she continues this unfinished story, by reviving plants in an urban environment that is nevertheless mineral.
Ethi-farms
Veni Verdi is above all a human adventure that Nadine leads with a team of 23 employees, by setting up vegetable gardens and urban farms in 8 schools and working-class neighborhoods in eastern Paris. Result ? More than 10,000 m2 of re-vegetated spaces. Vegetable crops of old varieties, orchards, greenhouses, making compost… many activities allow residents and young people to become familiar with living things, while promoting quality local food. A local agriculture that Nadine defines as “participatory, educational, nurturing and job-creating”.
Seedlings of hope
Nadine focuses her energy on young people, whom she teaches to work and to feed on the land. “I took action the day when, picking butter beans, a little boy said to me: “I didn’t know fries grew like that!” Children must learn,
understand and marvel at nature. To act, I only believe in the collective, in the “me-us” rather than the “me-I”.
A philosophy of working together that speaks deeply to us at the Foundation. The Terre de Femmes Prize will allow her to develop her project, to give it more scope. We are happy to participate with her in this great adventure.
Find Nadine and her association Veni Verdi on their website and social networks:
