The charity I worked with had several streams of activity, all of which function to alleviate hunger in Cape Town. The main activities I worked within was preparing and portioning 400 bowls of food in the mornings, which were then packaged and delivered to homeless shelters, domestic abuse shelters and other charities across the city. My second area of focus was helping to prepare food in the afternoon, which would be served in the evening to the unhoused population at live service. Services would help between 400 - 700 people, all of which would have the opportunity to wash their hands, and receive a bowl of warm, freshly-prepared food with bread and tea. 

The biggest personal accomplishment of the LiA was producing 400 portions of food by myself, firstly because I had never cooked in such large volumes but also because several challenges arose along the way. However, facing such challenges allowed my leadership skills to grow in that I accepted full responsibility for the outcome of the day's work and had to work with the team to ensure that the goals were met, to a high standard. This illustrates that growth happens where comfort ends, but also to have the confidence to step into leadership roles should they arise and you have the capacity and competency for it. Moreover, I believe that I struck a good balance between settling into the Kitchen's routines and systems (to not be arrogant and assume that I knew better) but also building confidence to be able to step in and take responsibility for some of the Kitchen's outputs in a manner which alleviated stress from Ladles of Love's leadership, rather than adding to it. 

Nonetheless, there were some challenges which presented additional growth. Originally, I was supposed to complete my LiA in Athens, Greece at a soup kitchen but was prevented from doing so due to visa issues. I had to make a plan fast, which I luckily managed to do so and was given the first 'taste' of working under pressure. Working at Dignity Kitchen is not like working in a restaurant environment at all; for a classically-trained chef who has worked in fine dining and upmarket establishments, the Kitchen was like the Wild West. It ran entirely on good faith donations, meaning that because they had no consistent form of funding, we had to work creatively to produce high-quality, nutritious and tasty meals for large volumes of people with little resources. Moreover, bulk-cooking entails an enormous amount of prep and everyday there was hundreds of kilograms of vegetables to wash, slice and package. In this way, I grew not only as a chef (my knife skills are better and faster than they ever have been) but as a person, by witnessing the tenacity and determination of the Ladles of Love' crew who work tirelessly to feed and prevent hunger in Cape Town, without compromising on standards of health and taste. It also allowed me to become more creative when cooking, and gave new meaning to something which was previously a method of making either a minimum-wage student salary or my way of relaxing after a long day of classes. Working at the Dignity Kitchen demonstrates the power of restoring dignity to those who have gone ignored, isolated and marginalised through a bowl of warm soup and pleasant conversation. It allowed me to connect with a community in South Africa which previously, I would not have, and to give back to my country which has given so much to me. To say that working for Ladles of Love was life-changing is to put it mildly; it recalibrated and reaffirmed everything I have thought and believed about working for the public interest, the ways in which I can give back and the duty to use one's privilege for change. 

Finally, the biggest accomplishment of my LiA was the relationships formed during the project, not only within Ladles of Love but additionally with other charities which work in the area to fight homelessness, hunger and violence on the streets. I am so grateful for my time at the Dignity Kitchen and for the profoundly changing experience that it was in my life.