The Race to Document Grandma's Garden Before It's Too Late
Students aged 14 and above across the United Arab Emirates now have until June 12, 2026 to preserve something most families don't systematically document: the conversations between generations about which plants heal, nourish, and anchor identity. Terra, the sustainability-focused science center at Expo City Dubai, has opened a straightforward but consequential opportunity through its "Know Your Roots" initiative, asking teenagers to sit with their elders and record videos about plants, traditional remedies, and the meals or practices that shaped family life—whether that was decades ago in another country or still happening today in an Emirati home.
The initiative launched on May 15, 2026, giving students approximately four weeks to locate a willing grandparent, film a conversation, and have a parent or teacher upload the result. For families willing to invest a few hours, the submission process creates lasting records: these recordings don't disappear into a device's photo library but become part of Terra's permanent digital collection, accessible through exhibitions, educational programs, and online platforms.
Key Details and Deadline
• June 12, 2026 deadline — no extensions; parents or teachers must handle the upload, not students directly
• Open to students aged 14 and above — the primary eligibility requirement
• Captures knowledge held by elders — including traditional plant practices and first-generation immigrant expertise
• Approved films enter a permanent archive accessible indefinitely through Terra's platforms, not just showcased once
• No rigid format requirements — students can film for 5 minutes or 30 minutes, using any smartphone; flexibility encourages participation
The Window Is Narrowing Faster Than Most Families Realize
Walk into any Emirati household or an expat family that arrived 30 years ago, and you'll encounter an unspoken knowledge gap. A teenager knows their grandmother made a ginger remedy for coughs, but can they explain the dosage, the heating method, or when exactly to use it? That specificity—the operational knowledge—often evaporates within a generation.
This wasn't always the case. The United Arab Emirates has undergone extraordinary transformation since the 1950s. In two generations, the nation shifted from subsistence in desert settlements to one of the world's most developed urban centers. During that transition, informal systems of plant knowledge—herbalism, cultivation techniques, seasonal harvesting—didn't vanish; they became sidelined. Modern hospitals coexist with continued reliance on traditional remedies, yet the younger cohort frequently lacks the framework their parents possessed to understand why and how these practices work.
For expatriate families, the timeline is equally urgent. Many arrived during the 1980s and 1990s; their parents or grandparents, carrying direct knowledge of traditional practices from the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, or the Levant, are now in their final years. Another decade means losing access to firsthand memory.
The Know Your Roots initiative creates structure around something most families experience as informal chat. It transforms those conversations into documented artifacts, turning them from ephemeral household knowledge into institutional records that persist regardless of what happens to the original participants.
What Gets Preserved—And Why It Matters
The scope is deliberately open-ended, reflecting the United Arab Emirates's composition as a nation of overlapping communities. An Emirati teenager might film their grandfather discussing the Ghaf tree—the national symbol—and its historical role in treating respiratory ailments or providing soap. An Indian expat family might document turmeric and ginger remedies for inflammation. A Lebanese household could preserve knowledge about henna poultices for headaches.
The date palm features prominently in Emirati intergenerational memory. Beyond its nutritional role, dates were traditionally shared with guests alongside Arabic coffee (Gahwa) as an expression of generosity—a practice that survives in formal settings and carries weight beyond mere hospitality. Families often reflect on why this gesture holds cultural significance and how it connects to broader traditions of welcome.
Plants like the Sidr tree, the national flower Tribulus Omanense, and frankincense carry cultural significance extending beyond their practical applications. Miswak, used for generations as a natural toothbrush, represents continuity of practice in an environment where commercial dental products dominate. Neem tree leaves—which grow freely across the United Arab Emirates—have been traditionally used for their antibacterial properties to treat skin conditions, yet younger people often don't know which part of the plant to prepare or how.
The films capture not just plant names or preparation methods but the relationship families maintain with their natural environment—whether remembering a childhood orchard in another country or observing which plants thrive in the Emirati climate despite drought and heat.
How This Archive Functions as Public Infrastructure
Terra is positioning this as an ongoing archive rather than a one-time contest. Marjan Faraidooni, Chief of Education and Culture at Expo City Dubai, framed the initiative as a bridge between "science and storytelling," emphasizing that young people are invited to "reconnect with these stories and contribute to preserving cultural heritage for future generations."
In practical terms, approved submissions will integrate into Terra's permanent educational programming, digital platforms, and future exhibitions. Films could appear in classroom modules teaching ethnobotany, featured in digital galleries accessible online, or screened during special events at the pavilion. Over time, these submissions create a layered repository of how different communities in the United Arab Emirates understand and value plant knowledge.
This model reflects established international precedent in participatory heritage documentation. Know Your Roots positions the United Arab Emirates within a global movement toward community-generated archives—a shift from treating heritage as something institutions preserve to treating it as something communities generate and maintain themselves.
The Technical Reality
The participation barriers are intentionally low. Students need a smartphone camera, a willing relative, and willingness to press record. Terra hasn't imposed rigid thematic constraints or specific video lengths. A conversation might last 5 minutes or 30 minutes; flexibility encourages participation over gatekeeping.
The submission process requires a parent or teacher to handle the upload—a safeguarding mechanism reflecting both legal necessity and the nature of intergenerational projects. Individual students cannot upload directly; there is an intermediary step ensuring parental awareness and consent. Terra's selection committee will review all entries and choose some for a showcase event at the pavilion, but not being featured at the initial event doesn't exclude films from the long-term archive. All approved submissions enter the permanent collection.
What This Means for Different Stakeholders
For families across the UAE: This project offers a structured framework for conversations that typically occur informally, if at all. The submission requirements create intentionality: you must sit down, record, and formally document something you might otherwise discuss sporadically across years. The resulting films become family keepsakes, archived not just in personal storage but accessible through institutional platforms where grandchildren or extended relatives might rediscover them decades later.
For educators: The initiative aligns with curriculum priorities around sustainability, cultural studies, and digital literacy while offering students a creative outlet distinct from conventional classroom assignments. The evidence requirement (a submitted film) creates accountability while the subject matter remains flexible.
For researchers and heritage preservation experts: The emerging archive will provide data about which plants remain culturally significant in contemporary United Arab Emirates households, how knowledge transmission functions across generations, and what environmental practices communities still value despite decades of modernization.
Terra and Expo City Dubai Context
Originally designed as the Sustainability Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai, Terra now operates as a permanent attraction within Expo City Dubai. The pavilion positions itself as both visitor attraction and active research site, hosting programs focused on applied science, field research, and resilience building.
Know Your Roots extends Terra's mandate into the social dimension of sustainability. Rather than positioning environmental knowledge as purely expert or institutional, the project treats it as something communities generate, maintain, and can document themselves. This reflects a deliberate approach: heritage preservation functions most effectively when communities author their own narratives rather than relying on external researchers or institutions to interpret their practices.
For families with older relatives living in the United Arab Emirates or connected to the country, the project represents a rare structured opportunity to preserve something irreplaceable. The June 12 deadline creates necessary urgency. Whether the initiative generates meaningful longitudinal data depends substantially on participation rates and submission quality—but the underlying premise remains significant: teenagers today have a finite window to capture what their elders know, and it is narrowing quickly.
