Kris Thomas
“Once we had an uncle who told us that it was his second plate of rice after four months. Another one said he had a piece of chicken after three months,” Akash Moses recalled while behind him the daily operations of the Rajagiriya Community Kitchen run by the Voice For Voiceless Foundation were in full swing. “Then there was this homeless community in Kamachchode in Negombo. The people there thanked us for the food and thanked us for having a meal with them when everyone else have alienated them.
The community kitchens run by the Voice For Voiceless Foundation began in late May with the help of volunteers and donations received from locals as well as ex-pats. Seven kitchens are active islandwide — Rajagiriya, Kadawatha, Negombo, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Delft Island and Colpetty — and the Foundation hopes to open two more — Maskeliya and Killinochchi — later this month.
“The idea first came to us when we heard about a mother and her family that survived on jackfruit for three days because they had no means of cooking,” Moses, one of the co-founders and directors of the Foundation told Roar Media. “So we realised that some people are unable to cook their food so they resort to selling the dry rations that were donated. That’s where the whole community kitchen concept started: from the community to the community.”
All of the community kitchens are forced to depend on firewood (“The biggest challenge right now. We cannot even find kerosene for these daily operations”) and the strength of our strong volunteer groups, that band together on 15 WhatsApp chats. The kitchens receive vegetables that are discarded from supermarkets — “Unsellable but usable” — which are collected the previous day. The kitchen work begins at 9 AM every day and is open to the public by 12.30 sharp.
“Regardless of who they are, you can come here and eat,” Moses said. “It’s not just about feeding these people. We sit with them, we talk with them, ask them how they’re doing.”
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