Soul Food Kitchen

Today was my first day working at the Soul Food Kitchen in Thessaloniki.  As ever, I feel like I have been here weeks already, maybe that’s just how it is in this line of work.

Today I spent the day helping to prepare 2 hot meals (one for lunch, one evening meal) for the homeless refugees in the city, under the watchful eye of Pixi.  Pixi is a charismatic, whirlwind of a man from Bosnia.  You can see in him a huge amount of compassion and drive, but also, like all permanent volunteers I have met – you can sense that he has witnessed too much in his life.  He has been working since 2015 with the ‘refugee crisis’ and has been with it as it has morphed, changing tact to help where the need is most.

The Soul Food Kitchen is well run, with an emphasis on providing healthy, home cooked food made from local sources.  The volunteers generally eat what they have cooked that day, and I have to say that so far its been delicious.  Today on the menu was; Kurdish Rice with vegetables and a fruit salad for lunch and mash potato/carrot and spicy spinach for evening meal – always delivered with chai and water.

Tomorrow I will go shopping with Pixi to buy supplies – using the money given by my amazing donors.  I am so very lucky to have so much support, it makes you much more effective if you can help financially – Pixi is down to about 20 euros, but he is unconcerned because he knows some money will come.  He also manages to run the operation very cost effectively, at around 50p per full meal, and lives in a plywood ‘shed’ at the warehouse meaning his costs are minimal, he says he needs very little – and he means it.

What I love about this work, is seeing how fantastically people work together and it just works so well. People from all backgrounds and cultures collaborate, sharing knowledge, experiences and skills.  Everyone is ready to work hard and do whatever they can to help and everyone is respected and welcomed. This is the way the world should work, with equality and solidarity at its core.

More tomorrow – for now – sleep