WIA provides hot food, essentials to flood affected

The recent flood in Auckland and nearby cities due to severe weather saw community organisations and individuals coming together to help those affected by it in many ways.

West Auckland was the hardest hit by the deluge on 27 January. And the most affected location in the Henderson-Ranui area is just a leap and a jump away from the Waitakere Indian Association’s (WIA) community centre (399 Don Buck Road, Massey).

Several members of the association were caught up in the downpour and saw first-hand the devastation wreaked by the flood waters. While some homes were waterlogged, others were left with severely damaged appliances, cars and furniture.

However, the food supply was the biggest problem, even for those who were only partially affected. Residents could not cook hot meals with kitchens flooded and stoves and ovens munted. That is when the WIA stepped up and started a daily programme to serve hot meals to those affected.

WIA’s President Sunil Kaushal told Indian Weekender: “On 28 January, the day after the floods and even as the media was assessing the damage, we got together as a team of volunteers, retirees and well-wishers to cook, pack and distribute hot meals. Some of the volunteers were not even members of WIA, but they wanted to help. We had never done anything like this before. We were just a bunch of amateurs; some of us didn't know how to brew tea, but we all wanted to pitch in."

Interestingly, the association, known for organising the biggest Diwali and Holi melas in NZ, had recently purchased two gas stoves and large cooking pots for a yet-to-be-launched soup kitchen and decided this was as good a time as any to make use of the equipment. "We wanted to provide a simple and nutritious two-course cooked meal, and the idea was to serve it as soon as it was cooked. WIA quickly converted their private kitchenette into a relief centre kitchen. As word spread, we began to receive donations of groceries from individuals members and friends like former National Party Member of Parliament Kanwaljit Bakshi, Pt Ravi Sharma and Pt Avinesh Sharma of Shri Sanatan Dharam Bharam Purohit Sabha, who chipped in with a donation of rice, lentils and cooking oil,” recalled Kaushal.

For the next week, the relief kitchen cooked one rice dish and one vegetable every day. However, after the first day, they realised they needed to speed things up, so they purchased a big pressure cooker and a few other pieces of equipments. "It was a steep learning curve," says Kaushal.

All the food was prepared using ghee and quality ingredients. Kaushal says that they wanted the meals to taste like home-cooked food. "We pulled it off on the first day, which gave us confidence that we could sustain it. We distributed over 200 hot meals on the first day," he says.

Soon, as word spread, a couple of retirees who help with their time and cooking skills locally offered their services. “This was a great boost to the effort. The relief kitchen was now operating on an industrial level. While one team did the cooking, another team stood by to quickly pack the meals in plastic containers for dispatch. As soon as the meals were packed, another group distributed them. The volunteers went house-to-house and door-to-door distributing the meals. The response was overwhelming. In a week, we had shared over 1000 meals with our neighbours and whanau.” says Kaushal.

On the third day, the volunteers encountered other groups of volunteers who had come to help the families clean up the debris and move belongings. The WIA volunteers gave meal parcels to these good samaritans too. They also dropped off meals at the relief centre at The Hub West and the Ranui Baptist Church.

Kaushal revealed they did not want any unnecessary publicity. "We were happy that the unsung volunteers were appreciated for their selfless service, but we did not want unnecessary publicity. Some organisations have more cameras following them than the meal packets they distribute. And then there are the politicians keen to take credit for other people's efforts. We saw a couple of them strutting around in high-vis jackets giving media interviews without contributing anything to the relief effort. We were focused on assisting and not on publicity. We have refrained from taking selfies or photos with families as that is not what this is about," Kaushal said.