The trial queuing system seems to be a success, flowing smoothly which is what you want on a rainy day. We have only received positive comments about it so far. If there are any issues please do let us know, as we are planning to make it a permanent feature. As always we are guided by your advice.
We are also seeing a sense of community forming among the guests, perhaps the time they spend together in the queue helps the bonding process? At the stall we are seeing guests helping each other, the younger ones making tea for those not as agile. One guest in the queue seemed to pass all the food, hesitating, but not taking anything, emerging at the other end with an empty bag – we were puzzled, but another guest understood, having gone through it himself years ago, he helped the new guest get over his inhibitions of taking free food – putting food in his bag for him.
Unless we are in that position we cannot imagine the sense of loss of dignity and shame a first visit to a food bank can bring, no matter how welcoming we are to our guests. There is no such thing as free food – the cost is dignity. This is what happens when your basic human right to food is callously taken away by the state, and you are reduced to charity provision.
The shame is on the politicians and corporations that unleashed austerity on the poor, not its victims. As the UN investigation into poverty in the UK showed, austerity was never economically necessary, it was a political choice – a social engineering programme designed to plunder billions from the welfare system to pay for tax breaks for the rich – to starve the poor to fatten the rich.
This week a generous soul donated 34 packets of chicken flavoured dry noodle packs to the kitchen, all with the halal sign on them. The kitchen belongs to the community, both those in need of its use, and those in a position to help. Thank you so much for you help, we really appreciate your kindness.
As we were closing up, a guest approached the stall. By this time all the ready to eat items like hot meals, fruit bags, pastries and bread had finished. He looked around at all the remaining items, we still had a full range of over a dozen items like pasta, rice, spaghetti, pasta sauce, tins, etc. But didn’t take anything. We pulled out a carrier bag for him, and asked him if he would like any of the items? He replied “just a cup of tea please”, pointing to our remaining items he said “these are no good for me, I have no home.. I missed out on the food”.
Our hearts sank, we scrambled to search the car in case there was anything left in the car, all we found was a packet of hobnobs biscuits tucked in the back of one of the car seats under some empty food boxes.
We apologised to him that that’s all we had left. His face lit up with a wide smile of gratitude, he thanked us and went his way in the rain, clutching his tea and packet of biscuits.
Then about 5 minutes later, still raining, he came back, clutching his now 1/3 eaten packet of biscuits, he asked if he could please have another cup of hot tea. A few minutes later two more homeless guests arrived, taking only tea and coffee away with them.
These encounters troubled us, we had failed guests unnecessarily – better planning was needed. We decided from next week, inshAllah, we would keep emergency packs in the car especially designed for homeless guests who do not have access to cooking facilities. Some of the large brick and mortar food banks offer ‘kettle boxes’ for guests who only have access to a kettle (hot water) – no kitchen, no microwave. And they offer ‘cold boxes’ for those with no access to electricity or gas. We will research, and inshAllah, next week launch our own preliminary emergency box.
Reflection Table
This week we continued to examine the tragic impact on ordinary lives the governments barbaric two child limit is having.
The two child policy punishes poor people by cutting their benefits if they have more than two children. This has led to unprecedented levels of abortion of otherwise wanted babies, its the #1 reason for abortions in two or more existing child families on benefits, cited in 57% of cases.
We added a frame to the Reflection Table where a mother shares her anguish at having to sacrifice her unborn child that she wanted to keep, but due to the two child policy couldn’t. The quote is sourced from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service BPAS.
“If there was no two-child limit I would have kept the baby, but I couldn’t afford to feed and clothe it… I did something I never imagined I would ever do… thanks to that rule I was forced to make this decision… I’ve really struggled to come to terms with [my decision].”
Its outrageous that both major political parties in the UK – the Tories and now Labour – are supporting this institutional attack on the poor – the two child policy.
Other Interesting Posts:
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 40
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 38
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 37
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 13
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 11
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 10
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 9
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 8
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 7
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 4
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 3
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 2