Financial Times

Professional chefs cook for tsunami survivors
By Iromi Perera
A mobile kitchen, hospital and a trauma-counseling centre, set up in Balapitiya provides 3,200 meals a day and treats more than 100 patients a day. This relief operation was initiated by a group of Israeli's who had visited Sri Lanka as tourists and wanted to help those affected by the tsunami. A special El-Al cargo plane carrying a delegation of 15 people, medical equipment and kitchen facilities arrived in Sri Lanka in the second week of January. The aid received was valued at around $120,000 - $150,000.

The entire operation began on January 13 in Balapitiya, with a fully operational mobile kitchen, outdoor medical facility and a trauma-counseling centre. The Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association (CHSGA) and the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka volunteered to operate the mobile kitchens as their contribution in the tsunami relief efforts.

The mobile kitchens provided lunch and dinner for those in nearby camps, catering up to 3,200 meals per day. Chefs from a variety of hotels, working on a shift system, cooked lunch and dinner every day, and these hot meals were transported to the camps. The cost of meals per day was Rs 100,000 and the normal menu consists of rice, dhal or potatoes, vegetables, canned or dry fish. Fried rice was the menu for dinner.

Hemantha Ratnayake, Vice President of the CHSGA said that out of all the camps in Sri Lanka, the camps that benefited from this project were the only ones in Sri Lanka to receive a balanced nutritious diet made by professional chefs. In most of the camps, either volunteers or those who were staying in the camps themselves cooked the food. He said that this operation would be continued as long as required.

The rations that were used were from the collection centre at BMICH and the Disaster Management Committee and monetary donations were also utilized for the rations. Seven hundred kilograms of rice, 60kgs of dhal, 100 tins of canned fish, 25 packets of table salt, 20 litres of vegetable oil, 200 eggs and two 40kg gas cylinders were some of the essential provisions that were needed each day. CHSGA and the Chefs Guild executed all the above work regarding the kitchens.

The medical camp had Israeli doctors treating around 100 patients everyday. All the necessary medical equipment and medicine was brought along with them. According to the chief doctor of the Magen David Adum/Jewish Red Cross, most of the patients were treated for wounds, flu, cough and bronchitis. Those with serious illnesses were referred to the nearest hospital.

The doctors also visited the camps and treated patients there as well. The trauma-counseling centre was decorated with pictures drawn by the children in the camps, and games and such activities were worked out for the children.

The Israeli's who funded this project had contacted Gideon Bacharach, General Manager of Hadar Gulf Ltd and expressed their interest to assist Sri Lanka after the tsunami disaster. Bacharach in turn, contacted Wicky Wickramatunga, who is the Honorary Counsellor for Israel in Sri Lanka and also Aitken Spence Travels and sought their assistance in coordinating this project. Aitken Spence Travels handled the clearing of the cargo and the transportation to the location using the funds raised by Aitken Spence and Company Ltd towards the tsunami relief operations.

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