Karma Kitchen was a student-led event organized by two of my friends. This event was organized for the school support staff in Fountainhead School itself. The purpose was to give a surprise to the school support staff that is to make this one day special for them because they provide us with a lot of services every day. The main idea was that the students, teachers, and other staff came together and decorated different areas of our school, cooked different variety of food for them, did a flashmob for them and made them do Garba which they personally loved doing. All this time while we were preparing, the support staff had no clue that we were doing it for them. After we did all of this for them, the happiness I saw on their face I was overwhelmed with glee and contentment. It made me feel so proud. This event covered the Service strand of CAS.
Learning outcomes achieved:-
LO1:- Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
I had never done cooking in my life, in this event, it was the first time I even entered the kitchen. It was an extremely tough task for me. Chopping, Cleaning and all of it was new to me however I managed to do it. This experience made me realize that cooking is fun but it is not a cup of my tea, however, this did motivate me to help my mom at home and start learning basic food items of cooking at home in terms of future references
LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
In this event, I cooked food and did photography. Cooking food was extremely difficult. I have never done cooking even at home, not even the easiest task in it. I was extremely confused when I entered the kitchen. I made puris, cut the onions, cleaned the dishes and etc. Cleaning the dishes was not something I opted for it made me upset and wiping 2500 dishes was way too much, I was extremely tired by my first task itself. I also got hurt while cutting the onions since it was my first time. Another challenge was that we decided and choreographed the flash mob in the end within 15-20 minutes all of us choreographed and learned the steps but learning was not tough to me because I am a dancer yet choreographing it was pretty much a task. In addition, all these things did not matter much because it was making the support staff happy.
LO4:- Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
The determination also stands as a key ingredient in the recipe of success. As mentioned above, I cleaned dishes, and despite being drained out by then, I managed to go and help in cutting the onions, and also making puris this was a tough job in the very beginning I couldn’t make a proper circle shaped puri. Moreover, even after helping in cooking, I went to do photography from my friend’s camera to capture those happy faces in front of us for whom we did all this since 7:30 in the morning. All of it reflects my commitment and also because if I hadn’t committed I would have never been as productive as I was.
LO5:- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
We were around 20 people in cooking, they were definitely very less for cooking this huge amount of food and also not everyone had experienced cooking before. We divided ourselves into groups, we were about 8 people for wiping the dish, 4-5 people for cutting work, 3 people for making and stirring the vegetables that were being cooked, meanwhile the remaining ones helped in decorations. Everything went smoothly, but when it was around 9:45 we realized we were running late. All of us gathered together the whole cooking team, even few from the decorations team came and helped us to make the puris which helped us finish all the work on time. This coordination and teamwork also contributed to success.
