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At the back of a sprawling set of garden allotments in Eastbourne, on England’s south coast, Mahmoud Al-Halabi gently pulls up two carrots for his children and gestures to a thick curtain of green vines. Parting the leaves he reveals several large bottle gourds, quite unlike anything growing in his neighbours’ plots.
“In Syria, summer is longer, and these grow even bigger,” the 33-year-old says, waving admiration aside. The beans, peppers, and
kusa (squash) he’s growing are other staples from that faraway climate. It’s been eight years since Al-Halabi and his family left their home in a pummelled suburb of Damascus, fleeing a conflict that has devastated their country.