In many families, some of the most meaningful traditions are never written down. They live in conversations around the dining table, in recipes grandparents cook from memory, or in small home remedies passed down casually over the years. Then one day, those stories stop being told.
Now, Expo City Dubai is trying to preserve some of that disappearing knowledge through a new community project launched at Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion.
Called “Know Your Roots”, the initiative encourages students aged 14 and above to sit with older family members and record stories connected to plants and traditions that shaped their lives — whether in the UAE or back in their home countries.
Dubai Teens Are Being Encouraged To Record Family Memories Before They Fade
The idea behind the project feels refreshingly personal. Students are being asked to interview parents, grandparents, and older relatives about plants that played a role in everyday family life.
For some families, that could mean stories about herbs used during winter illnesses. Others may talk about plants grown in childhood gardens back home or ingredients tied to dishes cooked during Eid and family gatherings. In multicultural households across Dubai, these conversations can stretch across countries, generations, and cultures.
And importantly, Terra is not limiting the project to native UAE plants alone. Since the UAE is home to residents from all over the world, participants can share memories connected to plants from any country or tradition.
Students are expected to record the conversations through short films or videos, which must later be uploaded by a parent or teacher before the submission deadline on 12 June 2026.
Inside Dubai homes, where life often moves quickly between school runs, work schedules, and screens, the project quietly creates space for slower conversations that many families rarely make time for anymore.
Terra Wants These Stories To Become Part Of A Bigger Cultural Archive
The project is not only about collecting videos for one campaign. Terra plans to turn these stories into part of a larger long-term archive connected to culture, sustainability, and environmental heritage.
Selected student entries will later be showcased during a special event at Terra, while approved submissions may also become part of future exhibitions, educational programmes, and digital storytelling platforms linked to the pavilion.
Officials say the initiative supports wider efforts to highlight culturally important plants and traditions that communities in the UAE continue to carry across generations.
Visitors at Terra already experience this connection between nature and culture throughout the pavilion’s landscapes and sustainability exhibits. Certain plants featured there hold deep historical value in the region, including miswak, traditionally used as a natural toothbrush for generations across the Middle East.
Walking through Terra itself, the focus on human connection with nature already feels visible. The shaded pathways, earthy architecture, and interactive sustainability exhibits make the pavilion feel less like a museum and more like a living conversation about how people interact with the environment around them.
The Project Highlights How Plants Carry Emotional Memories Too
What makes the initiative interesting is how relatable it feels once people start thinking about it.
Almost every family has a plant, spice, flower, or smell connected to a memory. Sometimes it is cardamom tea made by grandparents. Sometimes, aloe vera is used during childhood summers. For others, it may simply be the scent of jasmine reminding them of evenings back home.
These details often seem ordinary until they disappear.
The project also introduces students to ethnobotany — the relationship between people and plants. While the word itself sounds scientific, most households already practise it naturally through recipes, healing traditions, religious customs, and everyday habits.
In a city like Dubai, where cultures from around the world live side by side, these stories become even more meaningful. A single classroom can hold dozens of traditions connected to nature, food, and family history.
And unlike information found online, stories shared directly by grandparents or older relatives carry something more personal — emotion, tone, and memory that cannot really be replicated digitally.
A Different Kind Of Sustainability Initiative In Dubai
Sustainability projects are often associated with climate goals, recycling campaigns, or environmental policies. Terra’s latest initiative approaches the conversation differently.
Instead of focusing only on science or conservation, “Know Your Roots” explores how nature connects to identity, memory, migration, and family traditions.
That emotional layer is what makes the project stand out.
For many teenagers growing up in the UAE, especially in multicultural households, this may become the first real opportunity to document stories their families have carried for decades.
And years later, those recordings may end up becoming some of the most valuable family memories they own.
The deadline for submissions is 12 June 2026, and all entries must be uploaded by a parent or teacher.
Read More:
- Expo City Dubai Launches a Nature-Focused Winter Camp at Terra for Kids This December – Social Kandura
- Expo City Dubai unveils Expo Valley Views – a new green-living apartment community surrounded by nature – Social Kandura
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