News
Community kitchens pick up steam islandwide
View(s):By Yoshitha Perera
Community kitchen programmes are picking up islandwide with many people giving a helping hand.
In the face of Sri Lanka’s worst ever economic and political crises people have stepped up to to help many families who would otherwise go hungry.
Amali Perera
In small neighbourhoods and communities people are concerned about the plight of their area residents. Amali Perera an Ayurvedic physician from Obeysekarapura, Rajagiriya runs a community kitchen at her home for children under 15 years. The children are from low-income families in the area and Dr. Perera has identified that these children have nutritional needs.
“Through the Voice Foundation we started a community kitchen called ‘Voice Community Kitchen’ two months ago. We have now spread the concept in 50 areas across the country starting from the Rajagiriya main church. So there are 50 community kitchens open every day across the island,” she said.
On July 11, Obeysekarapura opened a community kitchen for children with volunteers helping to prepare lunch for them. On the day The Sunday Times visited the kitchen, three parties had volunteered to prepare lunch for these children. Ashi Seneviratne, currently residing in Australia had donated funds to feed 60 children on the day we visited. Another Borella family made a delicious chicken curry for the kids and donated it to the kitchen. The Standard Chartered Bank, Rajagiriya staff also provided sweets for the children. We saw how all these volunteers got together to make candy packages for the children.
The sizzling hot food was served and we saw the children enjoying a hearty mid day meal. “The goal is to provide lunch for needy children; families with low-income, daily wage earners were given priority. We recognised them and gave them a token. “At the moment, 80 tokens have been distributed,” Dr. Perera explained.
A kitchen in action: From preparing food, to packing sweets to dishing out a tasty meal. Pix by Akila Jayawardana
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 3 out of every 10 households, or 6.26 million people, are food insecure, with 65,000 severely food insecure. 200,000 households are coping with emergency livelihoods. To address food-related issues, most families now eat only two or sometimes just one meal a day. Three million people are expected to receive emergency food, nutrition, and school meals until December 2022 through the World Food Programme.
The country’s broader measure of consumer prices increased by 58.9 percent in June, up from 45.3 percent in May. The current food price increase of 76 percent has affected many families who are unable to obtain sufficient and nutritious food. 
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