Visit to Tafel
Yesterday (Thursday 7 april) there weren’t any workshops because the students were on a trip to an industrial site.
Today the Food workshop went to visit Tafel, an institution in Hattingen for the people who are socially disadvantaged and don’t have enough money to buy their own food.
The original idea to start up an organisation that distributes food to the disadvantaged came from the USA. There are 850 institutions of Tafel in Germany.
Unlike other countries, where people can eat their meals on the spot, this institution only gives out ingredients to take home. The building we went to, was only for adults. There is another institution in Hattingen for children, where they can eat, do their homework and play. This is not only for the socially disadvantaged people, other children can come too.
There are two lorries (included by the rented building) that go to supermarkets, bakeries and so on. They donate (so Tafel doesn’t have to pay for) the food, which is quite basic, they have left to Tafel, so this is the only food Tafel depends on. Sometimes it can be more, sometimes it can be little, it depends on what they get from supermarkets. When there’s little to give out, they try to share it as equal as they can.
When they get rotten food, they don’t hand it out, but goes immediately into the garbage.
They are currently looking for new premises, because it’s quite an old building. Now they have to work with what they’ve got. Currently it is divided into two parts: a cold storage, which only the volunteers can enter, and the actual ‘supermarket’.
An obvious question arose from one of the students: how do the volunteers at Tafel know that the people who come to collect their food are actual persons in need? Well, they have to get a card from the town council, that serves as proof that the person in question is in need. When they come in to get their food, they have to register in the computer; that checks how many times they have come this week (this is limited to twice a week, Monday to Friday, from 11.00 till 13.00). They are 700 to 800 ‘customers’ every month. People who are not able to come by this centre of Tafel, can also pick up their foot in the distribution stations in the villages that belong to Hattingen.
As has been said, this institution is not financed by local or federal authorities of any sort. They live on the donations by official sponsors and by the customers themselves (2 Euros whenever they come).
Now what were the impressions of the students? They were impressed by how this system is thought through and that the people who work there are volunteers.
volunteer
After this quick visit, (the students had to be gone by 11.00, because they didn’t want to embarrass the people who come there) they went back to school. Today it’s “Cook your own food day”. Every student had to bring their own recipe (typical of their country). So today there are 7 meals to prepare: an English dish, apple crumble, an Italian dish, fruit salad, pudding with ginger bread, French toast and cake. The students who brought the recipes and therefore know how to prepare it, have to organise the groups themselves. There were 4 leaders appointed, who have to discuss who does what and how many people they need. They have to be ready by lunchtime (13.15 – 13.30).
They also discussed the program for tomorrow’s presentation. When there’s time left, they can decorate their aprons (which they will wear during the presentation), make posters with each day’s motto and work on their cook book.
- Tim and Heleen