 In a society where convenience can lead to unhealthy lifestyles a Queensland initiative is teaching migrants and refugees how to grow their own food in a bid to combat unhealthy food choices. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship's settlement grants program has provided $40,000 to Griffith University for their community food garden project. We realised that there was a particular population in Logan that had an interest in gardening or in fact getting their hands back in the earth which is something that they often have as part of their life in continents such as Africa and also in Asia as well. The community garden, located at the university's Logan campus, encourages gardeners to grow their own healthy produce and it's also allowed us to offer some classes on permaculture so the gardeners themselves can improve their skills in the garden and produce the product or the particular vegetables, fruits that they want to grow and eat. The project also conducts information sessions to help refugees and migrants develop good nutrition skills. The garden gives our newest arrivals access to healthy and nutritious food. The classes also provide them with an opportunity to dip into skills they can apply to their everyday home cooking. I'm so excited to come here and I come here and they teach us about how to save the money and we cook healthy food for lunch or for breakfast. When I go back to my house I do like that. The program is providing an education for the new arrivals and coordinators. There's times when they bring skills that we don't have to the garden but there are other times where there are certain things that we take for granted because we've lived in Australia all our lives that they just don't understand or haven't had to deal with. In the 2009-10 financial year the settlement grants program will provide more than $4.3 million to 32 projects to help new arrivals settle in Queensland.