Tembari’s kitchen project: Volunteers and materials needed

This is the slightly modified container van which was donated to Tembari sometime ago. The center would like to convert this into a proper kitchen space, complete with freezers, refrigerator, cooking gas stoves and storage. – Picture by A P HERNANDEZ, Port Moresby, PNG

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

A Friend of Tembari Children

SOMETIME ago, a Port Moresby-based Indian expat-businessman donated to Tembari a slightly converted container van which we earlier intended to use as another classroom for our preschoolers.

However, we decided later that we can use the van for other purposes.

This was because the van has already had minor modifications. For instance, one side of it has been opened up to give way to a wide window while the opposite side was opened to become a door/entrance.

Since until now, we don’t have a proper kitchen where we cook the daily meals of the children – one for snack lunch and one for early dinner – we decided to convert the van into a dirty kitchen. It is part of Tembari’s effort to improve our volunteer-cooks’ working condition.

With this, we can also properly store our cooking utensils and foodstuff from rice, flour and milk which we would receive from donors on occassions.

And not only that, we are also about to receive donations from the Australian High Commission in the form of two medium-size freezer and a refrigerator, high-pressure three burner-cooking gas stove and a lot more.

All of this we could store at the container van-turned-kitchen facility.

At present, daily cooking is done under the sun as we lacked enough space to accommodate the dirty kitchen where we use firewood to cook the meals. Cooking is even more difficult when it rains as our dirty kitchen is simply done in the open.

For this urgent kitchen project, I would like to appeal for materials that would be needed to transform this container van into a modest cooking space.

Likewise, I am appealing for volunteers who are able to work in this project on Saturday, August 27, 2011, at the Tembari center, at Oro Settlement, 7-Mile, just on the other side of the Jackson airport.

For this job on Saturday, we need the following materials: grinder, hammer, drill, welding machine, nails, screws, Philips screw drivers, 8mm plywood sheets (6 pieces), vinyl flooring 13 square meters, five (5) liters of glue for flooring, white paint to coat the exterior and interior of the van, six (6) fluorescent tubes 120cm long; two (2) padlocks; 1mm x 45cm x 60cm steel sheet.

If you think you are able to provide any of these materials, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me on cell phone 722-31984, or office landline 3246-712 (at The National newspaper office).

We need the volunteers to work on the project on Saturday, August 27, 2011, from 8am to 1pm. If prospective volunteers own any of the tools mentioned, please have them with you.

For feedback, please email me at:

ahernandez@thenational.com.pg aphernandez58@yahoo.com