Mother Theresa once said "If you can't feed a hundred people then feed just one"
On Friday 10th November a team of twenty BSN senior students travelled to The Hague to help with the fortnightly meal for the homeless. They arrived to find the meal already cooked by five chefs in giant pans. The menu was vegetable soup, a main dish using a Jamie Oliver recipe: rice with mushrooms and chicken, ice cream in a frozen orange for dessert, followed by fruit and coffee.
The students were briefed by Mira who was in charge and they joined forces with students from The American School in the Hague, International School of the Hague and Lycee Francais. Soon 120 guests arrived to enjoy the warmth, the food and social contact. The students worked hard in both the kitchen and serving and time flew by. The production line in the kitchen was particularly impressive.
Here’s a selection of comments by the students when asked what they thought of the experience.
We enjoyed working together. The other volunteers are friendly and together you feel like you are helping. We would recommend this to students doing Duke of Edinburgh or CAS. It’s twice a month and does not take up much time and isn’t a huge sacrifice. (Magda, Giulia, Meghan)
"The homeless are not as I expected. I could pass them in the street and not know they were homeless. They are friendly and many speak English" (Bram)
"This is my first time helping in a set up like this and I intend to come back. It is very multinational and volunteers and the homeless are all communicating. I was on stage as an MC at TEDxYouthBSN yesterday. This is such a contrast to our world" (Giorgia)
The church group that provide the meal for the homeless have produced a book called Cooking for Crowds which is available for 25 euros on bol.com. A portion of the money goes to the Straatpastoraat that keeps an eye on the homeless that come to the meal and point them to social services they might need.
You can purchase the book here.
