The car weaves its way up Strathmore Road, with bushland on either side, and pulls up in front of a white boarded two-storey house. A face appears at an upstairs window. The middle-aged man watches as Manjit Grewal and his wife Geetha open the trunk of the car to unload bags of groceries, which are then laid at the doorstep.
Hardly any words are exchanged between donor and recipient. Delivering food handouts to those listed by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is awkward for all parties involved.
But the work of Ekta, a charity set up by Manjit and two others, to provide food to those isolating at home after testing positive for Covid-19, is winning hearts and minds in the Wellington region.
Under the isolation programme, to which he was invited by the Ministry, Manjit and Geetha have already made over 300 deliveries between February and March.
This programme runs alongside two other ongoing activities launched by Ekta: the Guru Nanak free kitchen and Dya, an ethnic food bank that also aims to serve as a mental health outreach programme.
“We started the Guru Nanak free kitchen where every Saturday we go out and serve cooked food to people who are living rough, the homeless people,” Manjit explains, adding : “We don’t discriminate. We don’t ask about your financial status or the community you belong to.”
The free meal programme was started four years ago in Courtenay Place in Central Wellington, a popular spot where people gather in the weekends. At first, about 30 meals were given away, which soon swelled to around 70. The modus is simple: tables are laid out by the kerbside and people in need just go and collect the food. No forms to fill, no questions asked. The programme relies on the support of volunteers, part-time and regular.
People are driven by varying compulsions to pick up food from the Guru Nanak free kitchen. Many are uncomfortable to approach charities associated with any particular religion. Not being a religious institution, the Guru Nanak free kitchen draws people who feel more at ease to collect food offered by it.
Dya is complementary to the Guru Nanak free kitchen. Though it operates as an ethnic food bank, it aims to serve also as an outreach programme in the area of mental health. Dya aims to build a sense of resilience in those who rely on charity by providing skills training and other support. For instance, the programme fostered an entrepreneurial spirit among women from the war-torn regions of South-Asia and the Middle-East by helping them to earn an income from discarded vine leaves which they turned into popular indigenous delicacies.
Apart from funding by the MSD, Ekta relies on steady suppliers such as Kaibosh, who specialises in “rescuing” food from supermarkets and distributing it to various charities. There is also the Pandoro bakery whose generosity resulted in the free distribution of seven tonnes of bread last year, according to Manjit.
Ekta is at a point where it needs to take decisions related to its future growth. In terms of turnover, it is no longer a small organisation. But for now, Ekta’s core identity and brand value are clearcut: while there are many food banks around, it is the only ethnic food bank. “If people want masalas, lentils or Arabic food, they must come to us,” Manjit notes, adding : “We are a multicultural, multi-ethnic entity.”