After predictions of another rainy day, the weather turned out great. With the warmth, for the first time we saw more people opt for cold drinks (iced cold water from thermos to make orange/ blackcurrant-apple squash) than they did for hot drinks (tea / coffee). Also for the first time rice pudding was the favourite tin chosen by our guests ( excluding sardines and tuna which are always in top demand) – we actually ran out by the end of the session. Least favourite tin is still spaghetti hoops – no one seems to like them LOL. Apologies we didn’t have any boxes of cereals this week. InshAllah we will have them next week.
Now that we are established at our location, we are seeing a crowd form whilst we are still setting up, some 15 minutes before we open. This inevitably leads to a rush as the kitchen opens. Some of our guests advised us that we should set up a queuing system so that those that come first are served first and that the more vulnerable don’t get left behind. They told us that their experience from other food drives is that it can lead to arguments and pushing.
We wish to keep the kitchen as informal as possible, with minimal rules. Rules create barriers between us and our guests; that get in the way of nurturing a community of equals. Queues can create such barriers as they put a restriction on our guests, an indignity. They also limit the interaction between us and our guests as when you are in a queue you are wary that the person after you is waiting, so you rush in getting your food and moving on. We loose that valuable dialogue where we and our guests share our stories to better understand each other, creating the bonds that bring us closer together as a community kitchen.
Yet at the same time we have a duty of care to all our guests to ensure none are left out, all are treated fairly with utmost respect at our kitchen. After great deliberation, this week we introduced an “entrance” to the kitchen, with signs directing our guests to enter from the right side and work towards the left – in effect a queuing system.
It is a temporary queuing system, which is lifted after the initial 20 minute rush. The signs are then removed and its back to our normal, informal kitchen, chatting with our guests over a cup of tea and biscuits.
Please let us know what you think of the system, if you are disappointed in this policy or have any suggestions, please, we want to hear them. Talk to us at the kitchen or using the form on the contact page. We really appreciate your feedback and are guided by your advice – its your kitchen! Thank you.
Reflection Table
We are gradually seeing more interest in our Reflection Table which aims, through creative means, to impart knowledge for people to reflect upon, to stimulate critical thinking on the issues of poverty and injustice in our community.
The revolutionary thinker Franz Fanon, whose 98th birthday anniversary was last week, famously wrote that
“Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you want them to understand”
Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth.
This week we continued on the theme of the barbaric two child policy that the government introduced in 2017, and which the opposition Labour party has just announced it will keep should it get elected – breaking its previous promise to scrap it.
The two child policy punishes poor people if they have more than two children by cutting their benefits by over £3000 a year for the extra child they have. We added a frame to the Reflection table with a quote from an ordinary working family effected by the policy :
I work full time, my wife cares for our children and my elderly mother. We are doing everything right and yet we can’t afford the basics. Even an extra £20 extra a week would allow us to buy vegetables and fruit for the kids. It’s as if the government no longer cares for its people.
The quote was sourced from the Child Poverty Action Group. It begs the question that if a working family is struggling, and cannot afford essential food for their children, what of the more vulnerable families without jobs, with more than two children?
Other Interesting Posts:
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 40
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 39
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 38
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 37
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 13
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 12
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 11
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 10
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 9
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 7
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 6
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 4