Lotus Kitchen

Lotus Kitchen is a Geelong based project operating at Corio’s Cloverdale Community Centre, (cloverdalecommunitycentre.org ) purposefully created to connect people in the local community. Every Thursday a team of volunteers come together to cook affordable Thai meals for the local community.

The volunteers come from various multicultural backgrounds and range in age from 14 up to 83 years old.

Many of the women have experienced domestic violence due to limited education, no family support and lack of knowledge about their rights. The project helps to build relationships and provides a link to local support services.

The team is led by Issara Saeyim, the centre’s wellbeing facilitator, who decided to use food and cooking as a way to reach out to people in need. The program name, Lotus Kitchen, stands for “liberating ourselves together, united and strong”. This name was chosen because of the significance of the lotus flower, it is a survivor because it pushes its way through muddy waters and finds the sunlight. Here’s a link to an article in the Geelong Community Update: Breaking Down The Barriers Through Food. (https://issuu.com/geelongcitycouncil/docs/communityupdate_2022autumn_digital)

Some of the women involved in the project have been victims of debt bondage, which is one of the most common forms of slavery worldwide and occurs when a person is forced to work to pay off a debt. They are manipulated into working for little or no pay, with no control over their debt and most or all of the money they earn goes to paying off their loan. The value of their work invariably becomes greater than the original sum of money borrowed. There is often no paper trail, instead, everything is agreed upon verbally. The debt can be tied to a person’s family who remains in their home country. Victims are warned to do what they’re told or their family will be harmed. Whether true or not, few take that chance.

The ABC wrote a story about one of the women involved in the Lotus Kitchen project, please find this story here:

Slavery still exists in Australia today. These are the people fighting back. (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-14/modern-slavery-in-austalia-as-police-community-fight-back/100198972?fbclid=IwAR0OugMhzWimOhhLWMWuc93JI5e3XmrB3FgExDVczDQgsAv7SWx3436E4Pw)

The dream of the project was to own a food truck so the women can prepare and sell meals at local community events such as markets to reach more people.

In 2021 A2B Support funded the purchase of a suitable vehicle. The vintage truck was in much need of renovation to make it usable for the Lotus Kitchen team. A2B has partnered with Covenant College (https://www.covenant.vic.edu.au/) in Bell Post Hill, who facilitated an interior truck makeover. VCAL students from the school spent an academic year working on the makeover as part of the learning requirements of their course.

Currently, the truck is receiving the final works to complete it ready for operation. It needs mechanical work to receive a roadworthy certification and the cooking equipment fitted to meet council permit guidelines. If you are able to support this project, please click the donate now button, or contact us to register your business support.