The true cost of the Afghan war in mental illness for our soldiers revealed
May 2 2010 by David Williamson, Wales On Sunday
THE true cost of the war in Afghanistan to our troops can be revealed today.
Figures exclusive to Wales On Sunday show that hundreds of troops are suffering with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health issues that often leave them plagued by nightmares and turning to drink.
And it is claimed our soldiers do not receive the help they need as they fight to cope with what they have seen and experienced.
Figures show that since 2007, 260 British Army soldiers have been assessed as having PTSD.
Almost one in 10 of those were medically discharged from the British Army over a 30-month period.
A total of 5,000 other army personnel were given assessments for “other mental health” issues between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. The Army said that 170 were medically discharged – 90 of them because of “mental and behavioural disorders”.
But the total number of soldiers suffering from mental health issues as a result of the war in Afghanistan is far higher. The war started in 2001.
Plaid Cymru, which obtained the figures, is now calling for systematic stress counselling to help soldiers come to terms with the trauma of the war. It is concerned that a “macho culture” stops people seeking help.
Mike Hughes, from Carno, Powys, served as a gunner with 19 Regiment Royal Artillery and is working to overcome PTSD. He was on a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan when a bullet scarred his face. As the disorder took hold, he became plagued by nightmares and started drinking heavily.
He said: “Because I didn’t know anything I thought I was going off the rails.”
Mr Hughes, 25, received help from the charity Combat Stress. “They told me what was going on. It was nice to know where it was all coming from,” he said.
Now a farm-worker, he suffers nightmares “all the time” and said he would have benefited from counselling in the war-zone but conceded that might not be realistic.
He said: “There are thousands out there fighting in lots of situations. There are just not enough counsellors.”
But he said he would like to see a change in the military culture so that people could talk about their struggles.
“They do need to be more open,” he said. “It’s a squaddie mentality to keep personal things to yourself or if you’re in trouble or need help to keep that to yourself.”
Saying nobody emerges from battle untouched, he added: “You see changes in everybody. If you are childish going out there and like to have a laugh, you soon grow up.”
The Royal British Legion is concerned by the prevalence of mental illnesses among veterans.
The charity said: “The extent of mental health problems among the younger ex-Service community is much higher when compared to their peers.
“In the 16 to 44 age group, the number of mental health disorders is three times that of the UK population of the same age.”
Ruth Coombs, of Mind Cymru, said the “barriers of discrimination and stigma” had to be tackled. “People don’t want to step forward because they think, ‘It can’t be happening to me. It only happens to certain types of people’.”
The Assembly Government has responsibility for caring for veterans and they receive priority treatment on the NHS for a health condition related to their military service.
A pilot project to support veterans experiencing mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, as a result of their service, has been extended across Wales. The project was initially funded by £135,000 from the Assembly Government and Ministry of Defence.
The new, all-Wales service will be funded fully by the Assembly Government with an investment of £485,000 a year.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Bomb strikes amid concern about Afghan deaths
By RAHIM FAIEZ (AP) – 3 hours ago
KABUL — A roadside bomb tore through a minibus in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday as the government said civilian casualties are on the rise ahead of a military buildup to combat the resurgent Taliban.
The explosion struck the Zurmat district of Paktia province Sunday evening, district chief Gulab Shah said. There was no official death toll in the Taliban-held area, but a witness said he counted seven corpses and 14 wounded.
The witness, who asked that his name not be used because he feared for his personal safety, said many of the victims appeared to be women and children.
Earlier Sunday, the Interior Ministry said there have been 173 civilian deaths in violence in Afghanistan from March 21 to April 21, marking a 33 percent increase over the same time period last year. A recent quarterly report by the U.S. office overseeing Afghanistan's rebuilding confirmed an increase in civilian deaths.
The ministry did not provide a breakdown of who was responsible for the fatalities.
Civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. and other international forces are highly sensitive in Afghanistan, although the U.N. says the Taliban are responsible for most civilian casualties. Still, the backlash could undermine U.S. strategy ahead of a summer military operation in Kandahar, a key southern city that is the spiritual home of the Taliban.
The goal of the U.S.-led operation is to flood in troops, rout the militants and rush in new governance and development projects to win the loyalty of Kandahar's half-million residents.
Public outrage over civilian deaths prompted the top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal last year to tighten the rules on the use of airstrikes and other weaponry if civilians are at risk.
There are fears the problem could get worse with 30,000 U.S. and NATO reinforcements heading to Afghanistan as part of a military buildup to take on the Taliban in the south.
Several recent operations have sparked protests in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, the French military said its troops mistakenly killed four Afghan civilians and seriously injured one during a clash with insurgents east of Kabul on April 6. On April 20, NATO troops fired on a vehicle that approached their convoy in eastern Afghanistan, killing four unarmed Afghan civilians.
"Preventing Afghan casualties remains our goal despite recent setbacks," said Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a NATO spokesman in Kabul. He added that military operations have increased this year, with many taking place in population centers.
Also Sunday, a British service member died after an insurgent attack in the Sangin district of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense announced.
Another NATO service member died Sunday in a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan, and a service member was killed Saturday after a rocket or mortar attack in eastern Afghanistan.
The victims' nationalities were not immediately released.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By RAHIM FAIEZ (AP) – 3 hours ago
KABUL — A roadside bomb tore through a minibus in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday as the government said civilian casualties are on the rise ahead of a military buildup to combat the resurgent Taliban.
The explosion struck the Zurmat district of Paktia province Sunday evening, district chief Gulab Shah said. There was no official death toll in the Taliban-held area, but a witness said he counted seven corpses and 14 wounded.
The witness, who asked that his name not be used because he feared for his personal safety, said many of the victims appeared to be women and children.
Earlier Sunday, the Interior Ministry said there have been 173 civilian deaths in violence in Afghanistan from March 21 to April 21, marking a 33 percent increase over the same time period last year. A recent quarterly report by the U.S. office overseeing Afghanistan's rebuilding confirmed an increase in civilian deaths.
The ministry did not provide a breakdown of who was responsible for the fatalities.
Civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. and other international forces are highly sensitive in Afghanistan, although the U.N. says the Taliban are responsible for most civilian casualties. Still, the backlash could undermine U.S. strategy ahead of a summer military operation in Kandahar, a key southern city that is the spiritual home of the Taliban.
The goal of the U.S.-led operation is to flood in troops, rout the militants and rush in new governance and development projects to win the loyalty of Kandahar's half-million residents.
Public outrage over civilian deaths prompted the top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal last year to tighten the rules on the use of airstrikes and other weaponry if civilians are at risk.
There are fears the problem could get worse with 30,000 U.S. and NATO reinforcements heading to Afghanistan as part of a military buildup to take on the Taliban in the south.
Several recent operations have sparked protests in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, the French military said its troops mistakenly killed four Afghan civilians and seriously injured one during a clash with insurgents east of Kabul on April 6. On April 20, NATO troops fired on a vehicle that approached their convoy in eastern Afghanistan, killing four unarmed Afghan civilians.
"Preventing Afghan casualties remains our goal despite recent setbacks," said Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a NATO spokesman in Kabul. He added that military operations have increased this year, with many taking place in population centers.
Also Sunday, a British service member died after an insurgent attack in the Sangin district of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense announced.
Another NATO service member died Sunday in a roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan, and a service member was killed Saturday after a rocket or mortar attack in eastern Afghanistan.
The victims' nationalities were not immediately released.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
New York - US investigators combed evidence on Sunday for clues to the perpetrator who left a crude but potentially deadly car bomb smoking in New York's packed Times Square.
Officials remained silent on who they thought was behind the attempted bombing late on Saturday.
An internet video purportedly from Pakistani Taliban group, Tarik-e-Taliban, claimed responsibility, the US monitoring service Site said.
Posted on YouTube, the video said the attempted bombing was to avenge the recent killing of two top al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq and US drone strikes in Pakistan, Site said. The claim could not be verified immediately.
New York's security services had a wealth of evidence to work from, starting with the green Nissan Pathfinder found packed with propane gas canisters, gasoline, fireworks, wires and two clocks.
Licence plates on the car were registered to a different vehicle, police said, while identification marks on the Nissan had been erased.
Surveillance cameras
Times Square - one of the city's top tourist attractions and teeming with thousands of tourists and theatre-goers at the time of the incident - has many surveillance cameras, giving police another strong line of investigation.
The bomb was described by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as an "amateurish" but potentially deadly attempt to create a fireball.
A sharp-eyed T-shirt vendor and Vietnam War veteran first saw smoke coming from the vehicle and alerted police, who quickly realised this was no ordinary car fire and brought in the bomb squad.
"We are very lucky... (to) avoid what could have been a very deadly event," Bloomberg told an impromptu news conference on Sunday.
Officials said it was the work of terrorists, but remained cautious, declining to say whether the culprit might be US-based or linked to al-Qaeda or another foreign group.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the FBI, the New York police and the government's Terrorism Task Force were probing the "potential terrorist attack".
Asked whether fingerprints had been taken that could be helpful, Napolitano told CNN: "There is all that - forensics about the vehicle, about the tanks, the propane inside.
"There are forensics in terms of video or possible video that might exist. There is a lot of evidence being tracked down by a lot of people right now."
No evidence of broader plot
So far there was no evidence of a broader plot, but law enforcement authorities had been alerted to "stay on their toes", she said.
Police were checking other cameras that may have captured the vehicle, and more importantly, "people seen driving or leaving the vehicle", New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
Bloomberg said it was not known "who drove the car.... We have no idea who did this or why".
Governor David Patterson said New Yorkers owed a debt of gratitude to the police and the vigilant T-shirt vendor, who told police officer Duane Rhatigan he became concerned after seeing smoke coming out from the Nissan SUV.
"I did a lap around the vehicle. The inside was smoking," Rhatigan later told the New York Daily News. "I smelled gunpowder and knew it might blow. I thought it might blow any second."
Times Square, one of the busiest areas of New York, was locked down for hours before being re-opened as security forces launched a manhunt for the Nissan's driver.
Broadway theatres, which faced disruptions on Saturday, were running normally on Sunday, but the scare raised tensions across the US where security forces have been on edge since a young Nigerian allegedly attempted to set off a bomb on a US airliner as it came in to land in Denver.
Obama briefed
President Barack Obama had been briefed on the latest incident and "commended the quick action by the NYPD", White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
John Brennan, the president's deputy national security adviser, is working with the NYPD and others and will continue to keep the president up to date on the investigation, the White House said.
New York City police are on constant alert after a string of terrorist plots and alleged plots in the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks.
In December they closed Times Square while inspecting a van at first feared to contain a bomb, but which turned out to be carrying nothing dangerous.
In February, Afghan immigrant and self-confessed al-Qaeda agent Najibullah Zazi, 25, pleaded guilty to a plot to set off bombs in New York's subway system. He could be sentenced to life in prison.
Last year, four New Yorkers went on trial in an alleged plot to bomb a synagogue in the city and shoot down military planes.
Nearly 3 000 people died in the 9/11 attacks when airliners hijacked by Islamist suicide squads slammed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan, demolishing both sky scrapers.
- AFP
Officials remained silent on who they thought was behind the attempted bombing late on Saturday.
An internet video purportedly from Pakistani Taliban group, Tarik-e-Taliban, claimed responsibility, the US monitoring service Site said.
Posted on YouTube, the video said the attempted bombing was to avenge the recent killing of two top al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq and US drone strikes in Pakistan, Site said. The claim could not be verified immediately.
New York's security services had a wealth of evidence to work from, starting with the green Nissan Pathfinder found packed with propane gas canisters, gasoline, fireworks, wires and two clocks.
Licence plates on the car were registered to a different vehicle, police said, while identification marks on the Nissan had been erased.
Surveillance cameras
Times Square - one of the city's top tourist attractions and teeming with thousands of tourists and theatre-goers at the time of the incident - has many surveillance cameras, giving police another strong line of investigation.
The bomb was described by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as an "amateurish" but potentially deadly attempt to create a fireball.
A sharp-eyed T-shirt vendor and Vietnam War veteran first saw smoke coming from the vehicle and alerted police, who quickly realised this was no ordinary car fire and brought in the bomb squad.
"We are very lucky... (to) avoid what could have been a very deadly event," Bloomberg told an impromptu news conference on Sunday.
Officials said it was the work of terrorists, but remained cautious, declining to say whether the culprit might be US-based or linked to al-Qaeda or another foreign group.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the FBI, the New York police and the government's Terrorism Task Force were probing the "potential terrorist attack".
Asked whether fingerprints had been taken that could be helpful, Napolitano told CNN: "There is all that - forensics about the vehicle, about the tanks, the propane inside.
"There are forensics in terms of video or possible video that might exist. There is a lot of evidence being tracked down by a lot of people right now."
No evidence of broader plot
So far there was no evidence of a broader plot, but law enforcement authorities had been alerted to "stay on their toes", she said.
Police were checking other cameras that may have captured the vehicle, and more importantly, "people seen driving or leaving the vehicle", New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
Bloomberg said it was not known "who drove the car.... We have no idea who did this or why".
Governor David Patterson said New Yorkers owed a debt of gratitude to the police and the vigilant T-shirt vendor, who told police officer Duane Rhatigan he became concerned after seeing smoke coming out from the Nissan SUV.
"I did a lap around the vehicle. The inside was smoking," Rhatigan later told the New York Daily News. "I smelled gunpowder and knew it might blow. I thought it might blow any second."
Times Square, one of the busiest areas of New York, was locked down for hours before being re-opened as security forces launched a manhunt for the Nissan's driver.
Broadway theatres, which faced disruptions on Saturday, were running normally on Sunday, but the scare raised tensions across the US where security forces have been on edge since a young Nigerian allegedly attempted to set off a bomb on a US airliner as it came in to land in Denver.
Obama briefed
President Barack Obama had been briefed on the latest incident and "commended the quick action by the NYPD", White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
John Brennan, the president's deputy national security adviser, is working with the NYPD and others and will continue to keep the president up to date on the investigation, the White House said.
New York City police are on constant alert after a string of terrorist plots and alleged plots in the wake of the September 11 2001 attacks.
In December they closed Times Square while inspecting a van at first feared to contain a bomb, but which turned out to be carrying nothing dangerous.
In February, Afghan immigrant and self-confessed al-Qaeda agent Najibullah Zazi, 25, pleaded guilty to a plot to set off bombs in New York's subway system. He could be sentenced to life in prison.
Last year, four New Yorkers went on trial in an alleged plot to bomb a synagogue in the city and shoot down military planes.
Nearly 3 000 people died in the 9/11 attacks when airliners hijacked by Islamist suicide squads slammed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan, demolishing both sky scrapers.
- AFP
Obama praises law enforcement on car bomb response
(AP) – 1 hour ago
VENICE, La. — President Barack Obama is commending law enforcement for responding quickly to a car bomb in Times Square and says the U.S. will do what it takes "at home and abroad" to protect the American people.
Speaking on a trip to Louisiana on Sunday afternoon, Obama says the New York police and fire departments and FBI responded quickly to a dangerous situation Saturday night in Times Square.
Obama says he will monitor the situation closely. He spoke earlier in the day to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Authorities in New York say there's no evidence lining the explosives-laden SUV to the Taliban in spite of claims of responsibility on websites.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
(AP) – 1 hour ago
VENICE, La. — President Barack Obama is commending law enforcement for responding quickly to a car bomb in Times Square and says the U.S. will do what it takes "at home and abroad" to protect the American people.
Speaking on a trip to Louisiana on Sunday afternoon, Obama says the New York police and fire departments and FBI responded quickly to a dangerous situation Saturday night in Times Square.
Obama says he will monitor the situation closely. He spoke earlier in the day to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Authorities in New York say there's no evidence lining the explosives-laden SUV to the Taliban in spite of claims of responsibility on websites.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Clinton firm on conditions for Taliban reconciliation
(AFP) – 18 hours ago
WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday reiterated conditions for reconciliation with the Taliban, the Afghan militant movement seeking the overthrow the country's US-backed government.
Some Taliban had already "come over to the other side," Clinton told NBC television's "Meet the Press" program.
"Now, if they do so, they have to renounce Al-Qaeda," she explained. "They have to renounce violence. They have to give up their arms. And they have to be willing to abide by the Afghan constitution."
NATO and the United States are throwing thousands of extra troops into Afghanistan, where their military deployment is set to peak at 150,000 in August under a strategy designed to bring a swift end to the conflict.
Most of the extra troops are deploying in the south, the heartland of the Taliban-led insurgency and the focus of the US-led fight to flush the militants from Kandahar and Helmand provinces.
Clinton, noting that US commanders on the ground had noticed that some Taliban fighters were willing to leave the battlefield, said a political settlement was possible.
"I don't know any conflict in recent times that didn't have some political resolution associated with it," she said.
"People either got tired of fighting and decided they would engage in a peace process. (Or) they were defeated enough so that they were willing to lay down their arms."
More than two thirds of the international force in Afghanistan are from the United States.
A total of 173 foreign soldiers have died in the country this year.
And in 2009, according to an AFP tally using data from icasualties.org, 520 foreign soldiers died fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, making it the deadliest year for them since the war began in 2001.
Violence was "sharply above the seasonal average for the previous year -- an 87 percent increase from February 2009 to March 2010," according to a quarterly Pentagon report to Congress released this week.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.
(AFP) – 18 hours ago
WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday reiterated conditions for reconciliation with the Taliban, the Afghan militant movement seeking the overthrow the country's US-backed government.
Some Taliban had already "come over to the other side," Clinton told NBC television's "Meet the Press" program.
"Now, if they do so, they have to renounce Al-Qaeda," she explained. "They have to renounce violence. They have to give up their arms. And they have to be willing to abide by the Afghan constitution."
NATO and the United States are throwing thousands of extra troops into Afghanistan, where their military deployment is set to peak at 150,000 in August under a strategy designed to bring a swift end to the conflict.
Most of the extra troops are deploying in the south, the heartland of the Taliban-led insurgency and the focus of the US-led fight to flush the militants from Kandahar and Helmand provinces.
Clinton, noting that US commanders on the ground had noticed that some Taliban fighters were willing to leave the battlefield, said a political settlement was possible.
"I don't know any conflict in recent times that didn't have some political resolution associated with it," she said.
"People either got tired of fighting and decided they would engage in a peace process. (Or) they were defeated enough so that they were willing to lay down their arms."
More than two thirds of the international force in Afghanistan are from the United States.
A total of 173 foreign soldiers have died in the country this year.
And in 2009, according to an AFP tally using data from icasualties.org, 520 foreign soldiers died fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, making it the deadliest year for them since the war began in 2001.
Violence was "sharply above the seasonal average for the previous year -- an 87 percent increase from February 2009 to March 2010," according to a quarterly Pentagon report to Congress released this week.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.
NEW DELHI — A new variety of mango has been named after India's record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar in honour of his cricketing success, an Indian television channel reported Friday.
Farmer Kalimullah Khan told India's NDTV news channel that he has created a hybrid version of the creamy, sweet-tasting fruit by combining two of the finest Indian varieties, including the Chausa.
"There is no player like Sachin Tendulkar in the whole world and that's why I have named this mango Sachin," the elderly farmer, from Malihabad in Lucknow district, northern Uttar Pradesh state, told NDTV.
Tendulkar, 37, is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest batsmen and has iconic status in India. He is also the first Indian sportsman to have a waxwork figure at London's famous Madame Tussauds museum.
India is the world's largest producer of mangoes. The Alphonso mango, grown in Tendulkar's home state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, is seen by locals as the "king of fruits."
The Sachin mango, though, will not go on sale.
"Our Sachin is a world hero and he is priceless and not a saleable commodity," said Khan, who plans to donate a tree of Sachin mangoes to the cricketer "so he can enjoy them with his friends."
Khan has produced nearly 300 new mango varieties and won India's top civilian award for his work on mango grafting and cultivation.
He told the news channel he is working on a new hybrid fruit to be named after the legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.
Farmer Kalimullah Khan told India's NDTV news channel that he has created a hybrid version of the creamy, sweet-tasting fruit by combining two of the finest Indian varieties, including the Chausa.
"There is no player like Sachin Tendulkar in the whole world and that's why I have named this mango Sachin," the elderly farmer, from Malihabad in Lucknow district, northern Uttar Pradesh state, told NDTV.
Tendulkar, 37, is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest batsmen and has iconic status in India. He is also the first Indian sportsman to have a waxwork figure at London's famous Madame Tussauds museum.
India is the world's largest producer of mangoes. The Alphonso mango, grown in Tendulkar's home state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, is seen by locals as the "king of fruits."
The Sachin mango, though, will not go on sale.
"Our Sachin is a world hero and he is priceless and not a saleable commodity," said Khan, who plans to donate a tree of Sachin mangoes to the cricketer "so he can enjoy them with his friends."
Khan has produced nearly 300 new mango varieties and won India's top civilian award for his work on mango grafting and cultivation.
He told the news channel he is working on a new hybrid fruit to be named after the legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
How interesting.. there is something like prison farms in Australia, too.
Detainees at Canberra's Bimberi Youth Detention Centre are giving back to the community by growing vegetables.
A vegetable garden at the facility has been so fruitful the excess produce is being collected by charity group OzHarvest and distributed to disadvantaged Canberrans.
The project started 12 months ago when the detainees designed the garden which will soon include a greenhouse.
Horticulture teacher John Ellis says the program has given Bimberi residents a positive project to be involved in.
"You can see they gain a lot out of it, it's about educating them but they're also getting these skills that come in handy," he said.
"Most days they come in and they're keen to have a go."
One detainee, Kieran, says the program gives them something to look forward to.
"It gives us something to do during education, teaches us life skills - if we get our own house or flat we can grow plants and vegetables," he said.
"It's not just good for me, it's good for everyone, everyone gets to do it."
Minister for Children and Young People Joy Burch says the program is an effective way to help the youth develop a connection with the community.
"These are real horticultural skills that they're learning plus they get to see the fruits of their benefits ... quite literally when the fruit garden gets going," she said.
"To have a connection to the broader community, and for them knowing that they're not only helping to feed the other residents here but to helping others who a less-advantaged in the community is a wonderful thing."
The detainees will also be offered cooking and barista courses in the coming weeks to help develop their vocational skills.
Detainees at Canberra's Bimberi Youth Detention Centre are giving back to the community by growing vegetables.
A vegetable garden at the facility has been so fruitful the excess produce is being collected by charity group OzHarvest and distributed to disadvantaged Canberrans.
The project started 12 months ago when the detainees designed the garden which will soon include a greenhouse.
Horticulture teacher John Ellis says the program has given Bimberi residents a positive project to be involved in.
"You can see they gain a lot out of it, it's about educating them but they're also getting these skills that come in handy," he said.
"Most days they come in and they're keen to have a go."
One detainee, Kieran, says the program gives them something to look forward to.
"It gives us something to do during education, teaches us life skills - if we get our own house or flat we can grow plants and vegetables," he said.
"It's not just good for me, it's good for everyone, everyone gets to do it."
Minister for Children and Young People Joy Burch says the program is an effective way to help the youth develop a connection with the community.
"These are real horticultural skills that they're learning plus they get to see the fruits of their benefits ... quite literally when the fruit garden gets going," she said.
"To have a connection to the broader community, and for them knowing that they're not only helping to feed the other residents here but to helping others who a less-advantaged in the community is a wonderful thing."
The detainees will also be offered cooking and barista courses in the coming weeks to help develop their vocational skills.
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