Posts tagged food
Food for Life in Japan – Week 5
May 17th
FFL Volunteer Madhu Mangala unloading fruits and vegetables from the FFL truck
Sunday, 15th May 2011 (Wataricho, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan) – Last Sunday was one of biggest Food For Life relief efforts since the Tohoku Mega-Disaster in Japan. A sumptuous prasadam dinner was served to 980 people at three relief-camps.
In addition, over 1000 kilograms of fruits and vegetables were provided for breakfast meals for 1,375 people over next three days.
FFL Global Director, Shrikant Shah said, “These results were possible through tireless efforts of 41 volunteers from Food for Life, Agrawal Association Japan, Hindi Sabha, and the Tokyo Maheshwari Group who worked throughout the day and drove over 800 kms in a convoy of 8 cars and one truck!”
Vege Curries, rice, flatbread, salad and a cookie
Shah, also explained that the planning and co-ordination of these services has itself been enormous. “We start planning on the following Monday for the next Sunday effort. It requires a whole week of careful coordination and planning. We are especially thankful for Akhilesh Ji for his help in this regard.”
A told of six food stalls were setup at the three shelters. The dinner consisted of two hot vegetarian curries (Chickpea masala curry and Paneer masala curry), fresh salad, home-made Thepla (Masala-flatbreads) and a wholemeal cookie. To the delight of all, a special sachet of Organic Tulsi Ginger tea (Caffeine FREE) was served.
FFL Volunteers serving dinner
“The dinner was relished by everyone and many requested for “O-kawari” (second helpings) of the curries,” explained volunteer coordinator, Madhu Mangal.
In serving these delicious meals, Food for Life volunteers try to be as sensitive to the feelings of the Japanese people, many of whom are still in a state of shock and depression. “We do our best to engage in positive conversations with them and also try to play with the children to uplift their spirits,” explained volunteer, Tapasvini Dasi.
Other volunteers included residents from Madhya Pradesh (MP), Ojima Indians, and Nishi Ojima Indians who pitched in enthusiastically to make the project a success.
Japanese children doing their homework at one of the many shelters.
Contact
Shrikant Shah, FFLG Japan director (+81-90-1469-6129 or shrikantshrigems@gmail.com)
Plan for coming weeks:
For coming weekend (May-22)
The Kofu Indian Group has pledged 14 volunteers to serve meals to 770 people at three shelters and also distribute 1000 kg fruits and vegetables.
The following week we plan serve around 1350 people, for which we will need many volunteers.
Food for Life Japan is now aiming to provide these food services on a daily basis for as long as possible. “As long as funding and volunteer support is there then we can keep this up,” said Shah.
If you are interested in helping, we urge you to come forward now and help.
Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/101068806464452734982/May15FoodForLife#
https://picasaweb.google.com/Tarun.Mohta/MiyagiFFL20110515?feat=directlink
Fruits and Vegetables for 3-days of breakfast:
➢ ORANGE 600 PCS
➢ APPLE 600 PCS
➢ GRAPEFRUITS 600 PCS
➢ BANANA 1,000 PCS
➢ MIKAN 600 PCS
➢ KIWI 300 PCS
➢ MELON 56 PCS
➢ LETTUCE 100 PCS.
➢ CUCUMBER 30 KG
➢ SPINACH 100 PACKS
➢ TOMATO 720 PCS
➢ CAULIFLOWER 100 PCS
SKBP starts relief services
Aug 20th
September 26 – Food for Life affiliate SKBP sent a team to Thatta and Makli to provide meals to flood survivors. The team noticed that the areas around Thatta and Makli already contained many Relief Camps where Flood victims were receiving food, cloths and water from numerous NGOs. After further investigation, however, the FFL teams were able to identify areas where relief services were not reaching survivors and so they focused their attention on these underserved places. Hot potato biryani is currently being served to at least 150 families, many of whom came from Sajawal.
Relief spokesperson, Vanamali das, commented: “The next morning the SKBP team went to another area of Makl. The land had dried and so the villagers immediately came to us when they saw our relief team.”
The FFL cooks began preparing the meals while many of the local Makli people assisted. Because gas is not available the meals had to cooked in the open air on fire wood.
“The meals were very well received as the villages smiled and praised the cooks and called out to their friends to join,” explained Das.
After providing meals in Thatta and Makli the SKBP team returned to Karachi to make plans to visit Hyderabad where there was an overwhelming number of refugees now living in relief camps.
Photos of relief in Makli and Thata
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