Two chefs decided to put their skills to good use use by cooking for the Lavender Hill community during lockdown.
They connected with residents through the New World Foundation.
Kim Pillay, senior programme manager at New World Foundation, described Two Oceans Restaurant sous-chef Julian Adams and head chef Chad Blows as “humble”.
She said they communicated well with community members and the strong women leaders.
“It was heart-warming to observe men who were positive role models in a community like Lavender Hill, who reached out to share their skills knowing they will not be paid for this or if their companies would even be able to pay them in the following months.”
Mr Adams said. “Being on lockdown for three weeks, I had lots of time to think about everything. My line of work was a big point of thought: How it would help me; How it would help my family?”
Mr Adams said he stayed in touch with Blows. “Being at home locked down, sparked it all. The two of us being like two peas in a pod, we were thinking about the same things it would seem, our future, the job, family and we were both thinking about our team, and how they were doing: If they were safe, if they were able to feed their families? We felt helpless honestly. We started looking for ways to start helping the less fortunate. The hungry people who really needed our help. We also needed a permit to do this,” said Mr Adams.
Mr Blows added: “This led us to New World Foundation where the organisation and staff welcomed me and colleague Julian with open arms. As a chef all we wanted was to cook and make people happy. We used the knowledge of the industry along with the skills we acquired over the years. We hit up friends, family, work suppliers, people on Facebook, on WhatsApp. Everybody we basically knew or worked with us past and present, for donations.”
Ms Pillay took the chefs around Lavender Hill to meet some of the women that feed the community from their homes daily, including Ellen Pakkies, Charmaine Josephs and Mary Bam. “We then dropped off food at aunty Charmaine that cooks jungle oats out of a 200-litre pot on a gas stove on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to feed the hungry kids in the court that she stays in,” said Mr Adams.
Ms Pillay said: “At New World Foundation, we are grateful to have the resources to access food donations for soup kitchens and recently for pet food as well. The lockdown due to coronavirus is teaching us many things. We are grateful for what we can do for the community as an organisation whilst we still have a roof over our heads and food to eat in our homes.”