Last Monday afternoon the Grade 11 students Annika, Haixu, Herman and Kjartan had their long planned cooking evening with refugees – and it turned out to be an evening of great smells and tastes and a lot of activity.

First, a bake sale the week before was a big success and the Grade 11 German B students had enough cash to go shopping for all the ingredients. Thanks to all those who donated and bought cakes last Wednesday.

Thanks also to Jayvin Temony who provided us with recipes for an African lamb soup and an Arabic bread. Haixu from Grade 11 added a Chinese noodle dish and Kjartan provided some pancakes. Two Iranian ladies from the refugee home cooked a tasty dish with eggplants, and our Grade 11 CVC, Mrs McGuigan, thankfully helped us with the shopping.

After all the shopping goods, plus two cookers from H.I.S. had arrived at the refugee home in Hardtstrasse, Kirchheim – a district of Heidelberg – the cooking could begin.  All the recipes turned out to be a success, quite a few people came in, attracted by our posters, by the smell or by word of mouth, and enjoyed our dishes from various regions of the world, which hopefully gave some refugees a taste of their home.

text & photos: Michael Handwerk