United African Farm, Cardinia fosters culture and connection

Co-founder, and project coordinator, Thuch Ajak said he wanted a place where the community could break bread and grow food together and break through inter-generational gaps in the community to create a steadfast social cohesion.

"Food connects people, every conversation starts with food and building a community," Mr Ajak said.

"There's a lot of diversity of cultures here, and we grow things we use day to day in Africa, but when you come here they're quite expensive in the food stalls and we thought what if we grow them," he said.

The farm is on just over a hectare of land and grows a variety of crops, including sorghum and okra, they also plan to add chickens to the mix and recently visited Lil's Yolky Dokey Eggs in Main Ridge to learn best practice.

Most of their members come from Africa, with more than 12 countries represented through their members, they've found the farm has created positive narratives in the community and assisted with combating some of the social issues experienced in the region.

Many of the people Mr Ajak knows who migrated from Africa were farmers before moving here, so being able to come to the farm, have access to land and grow their own food has been a special experience for many, including young people.

"Having an initiative like this engages the youth and there's something about the soil, once you work in the garden its therapeutic," he said.

Studying a degree in agriculture, majoring in plant protection and bio security while in Africa, Mr Ajak migrated to Australia the year after graduating in 2015.

Upon arriving, he found it difficult to follow his life's passion and couldn't find suitable on-farm work doing what he had studied, so took matters into his own hands, founding the farm with co-founder Mama Queyea Tuazama.

"I was struggling for all those years to get an opportunity, because I had a different qualification it was frustrating because that's what I'd chose to do," Mr Ajak said.

"Some people come here with a masters or a doctorate and the policies don't allow them to work."

He explained he struggled to find work to do what he loved, until starting the community farm initiative and with a whole other side to it fostering community and connecting with others was a special addition.

From sharing skills and on-farm knowledge, volunteering or visiting their community farm gate on Saturday's, they're hopeful in building community support to further grow the United African Farm.