Case study: Green Fingers nursery empowers PWDs with skills and employment

Green Fingers Nursery

"Green Fingers is a nursery run by Hamnasheen Welfare Association.
It is a nursery with a difference, a nursery that offers its workers a chance of a lifetime."

About ten years ago when Naima heard of Amir a young boy who had lost his eyesight at age thirteen she wanted to help. But like most people in his position Amir didn’t want to rely on the charity of others. He wanted to work as a contributing member of society. Thus, the seeds of Green Fingers Nursery were sown.

The Green Fingers Project

Naima realized that Amir’s potential could be used in making coco-poles used to support young plants and creepers. After many initial setbacks Naima finally got a big order for the coco-poles. Amir decided to bring a few of his blind friends along, and from those humble beginnings Green Fingers has now grown to a 2000 yard nursery with over 10,000 potted plants. The nursery hires 10 full time staff, most of whom have various disabilities.

Now the nursery has two experienced gardeners that train the new staff about caring for the plants. Naima also uses her experience of working as a teacher. She talks about the importance of simple tasks. So for example people with learning difficulties are asked to pick up 2 plants that have red flowers. These simple exercises challenge them and stimulate their brains. Tasks like spraying plants with water also help with hand eye co-ordination.

Working together

The nursery uses a unique team based approach, where those with physical disabilities work alongside those with learning disabilities. The staff with learning disabilities does most of the physical work, those who are blind build coco-poles etc and those who with hearing or speech impairments pot the plants. Thus the nursery brings people of various abilities together making a complete team that can perform all tasks.

Challenges

Like any other NGO Green Fingers Nursery faces problems trying to get funding. While the nursery hopes to be self-sufficient in the future, its current sales are not enough for it to stand on its own.

The organisation also faces another problem that is unique to NGOs working with people with disabilities. Most of its workers have to travel across the city to get to the nursery. Often, the journey is long and made harder by the lack of accessibility of our public transport system. This is a source of major inconvenience to the workers and sometimes it can mean that they get lost or worse injured while on their way to work.

Looking to the future

Green Fingers are looking to expand, they want to sell more plants and hire more workers. They also want to diversify into more areas. It’s with that in mind that the nursery has started offering candle making classes to its workers and hopes to sell candles at various shopping malls across Karachi.

Green Fingers has another social agenda, it wants to inform people about people with disabilities and shatter the conventional stereotypes that exist in society. In order to pursue this goal Green Fingers organises seminars and performances at various private schools, here the workers can show off their skills. While doing so they educate the school children and challenge the stereotypes that exist about people with disabilities.

Green Fingers offers hope and jobs to its workers, it also stands as a shinning example of the skills that people of all abilities have to offer. We hope the nursery keeps getting bigger and stronger in the future!!

Contact us; Address: Opposite Old Mid East Hospital Naher-E-Khayam, Block 8 Clifton, Karachi. Tel: +92 21 8523134 Email address: cocopolepk@yahoo.com