Stories from the Kitchen

KOMPAS/CORNELIUS HELMY HERLAMBANG

A cook prepares food for disaster survivors on Thursday (25/10/2018) at a community kitchen run by the Solidarity of Victims of Human Rights Violations in Palu, Central Sulawesi. The community kitchen not only provides healthy meals, but has also become a hub for gathering information on the needs of disaster survivors.

Stories have emerged from soup kitchens in emergency shelters in disaster-affected regions across Central Sulawesi, not only about food but also about brotherhood and the path to healing from the trauma.

There was commotion at the soup kitchen of the office of human rights group Solidarity for Victims of Human Rights Abuses (SKP HAM) as the sun was just about to emerge from the horizon in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on Thursday (25/10/2018). Volunteers were deftly preparing various vegetables, frying tempeh and cooking 20 kilogram of rice on a wood stove.

“Sister, look at this. The rice is cooked in the center but still raw on the outside,” said volunteer Amin, 20.

“Just add more water,” answered another volunteer, Sisilia Loborahima, 36. The Palu-based caterer serves as the soup kitchen’s coordinator.

Amin added a little water to the pan and later returned to helping another volunteer peel potatoes to make sambal goreng (fried chili dish). “I’ve never cooked before. Usually I buy ready-made meals. When I have to cook rice, I use a rice cooker. I’m learning a lot in this humanitarian mission,” Amin said.

Sisilia and Amin are just two of the 20 volunteers who have worked in the soup kitchen for the past five days, following the recent earthquakes and tsunami in Central Sulawesi. Their goal is to provide food for displaced persons and volunteers every day during the emergency response period. They get food ingredients from local networks of civil society organizations and donors.

“In the first days after the disaster, we prepared 1,000 rice boxes every day. Now, we only make 350 as we don’t have enough manpower,” Amin said.

The menu is special in that no instant noodles or food with preservatives and added flavoring is served. Sisilia said she wanted the food to be truly healthy. The kitchen also supplies food for 40 elderly people at Palu’s Al Kautsar nursing home.

“In a post-emergency situation, everyone must be healthy. A full belly and a healthy body will go a long way in current conditions,” Sisilia said.

The laughter shared among the soup kitchen volunteers serves to “spice up” the meals. Sisilia has proven this. For her, preparing meals and interacting with other survivors has helped her get back up from the sorrow of losing her family members in the disasters.

Solidarity

Such a joyful spirit has spread like a virus in 11 other villages in Palu city and Donggala and Sigi regencies. Through local networks the SKP HAM has maintained since 2004, soup kitchens have been established under local management. SKP HAM serves as distributor of food ingredients while locals manage the soup kitchen’s operation in order to help other displaced people.

The soup kitchen initiated by Windra, 46, along with other local women in hamlet II of Souluwe village, Dolo district, Sigi regency, serves as a prime example. For the past 20 days, they have spent their mornings cooking and at 11 a.m., they distribute the meals to locals. At the beginning, only seven women managed the soup kitchen. Now there are 25.

“Three other hamlets in the village are interesting in setting up soup kitchens with ingredients supplied by SKP HAM. Usually, supplies come every three days,” she said.

The movement has helped foster solidarity among displaced people. Whenever the delivery of supplies is delayed or the food is not enough for everyone, locals chip in by donating crops and personal reserves of rice, salt and sugar.

“We are just farmers. We don’t know what work we will do tomorrow. The irrigation culverts have been destroyed. However, this is not the time to think about ourselves. We have to work together for the greater good,” Windra said.

On Thursday (25/10), even before the supplies came in, the fire in the soup kitchen was already burning. Locals had donated 20 kilograms of rice, moringa leaves and cassava to be cooked. Others prepared chili for seasoning. Forty rice boxes had been prepared and no one was complaining.

“There\'s use in no whining. We just have to get through the days with joy. We believe there are many out there who want to help us,” said Risna, 51, another kitchen volunteer.

Multifunction

At around noon, after the meals were distributed, Windra did not rest. Instead, she hopped on a motorbike and drove to the SKP HAM office, located some 20 kilometers from Souluwe. The day was extremely hot and the road had been heavily damaged during the earthquakes. She wanted to attend a meeting to discuss the fate of the local soup kitchen after the post-disaster emergency period ends on Friday (26/10). “I want the soup kitchen to continue helping villagers rebuild the local economy,” she said.

Fortunately, the response was positive. SKP HAM secretary-general Nurlaela Lamasitudju said the soup kitchen’s operation would be extended for three months. Donors, amazed by locals’ volunteering spirit, have agreed to help.

Nurlaela said the soup kitchens had many other functions than just preparing food. She said the kitchens could serve as points to distribute school equipment, medical aid and other basic needs. Soup kitchen workers are seen as capable in mapping out locals’ needs in disaster-affected regions. “The information can be used by the administrations or donors wanting to help rebuild Central Sulawesi,” she said.

The kitchens may also help in healing the trauma, including through literacy activities managed by the Nemu Buku community and psychological counseling by Sejenak Hening.

In disaster-affected regions, soup kitchens prepare meals not only for the body but also for the mind and soul.