MARIST KITCHEN AND ITS WORK VIEWS IN UTURU ESPECIALLY IN MCA
Everybody knows that kitchen is a place lots of food are prepared either for eating or for preservation.
In Marist kitchen, especially the one in Marist Comprehensive Academy Uturu where I have worked for more than five years now. Read down the stories because nobody can actually give you the exact knowledge of what the work in the kitchen is all about more than the one you will get here in few minutes.
Marist is a big educational establishment all over the world. They are organized scholars mostly in religious form. All their activities are centered in prayers and grooming the young talented minds who would grow up to become lasting legends.
In the kitchen where I worked, we stayed near boys hostels and witnessing all the activities going on within the premises. I won't be saying much on boys behavours here because I want to share our work patterns and few selected challenges we face in the kitchen work as a cook.
Normally, students woke up everyday around four thirty am in preparation of their holy mass and after that they came back straight to their dinning for their breakfast around six thirty to seven o'clock, then went to school between seven thirty to eight o'clock am as lessons start by eight or so.
Before four as it depends on the type of food, all the cook concerned have woken up to prepare students food earlier in the morning.
As missionaries as Marist body in view, so are the workers and students who realized themselves in time are missionaries too.
Come rain come sun, the cooks are there not to disappoint.
The cooks are two groups of different people. Each group is four - two capable men and women. It is the eight of us that handles all the cooking activities in the kitchen both for students and staff during the time of resumption and closing day of the school.
During resumption day which normally happened on Saturdays, the cooks would have started working on Friday for cleaning sake and other necessary food preparations against the next day.
On the special day, other things would have been going on; like setting of canopies, chairs and tables for teachers and other form masters to welcome, check in projects works and take proper records of students who have not accept defeat or lose fate in the Marist struggle as missionaries.
Many Marist workers wake up earlier before the students to prepare for duties assigned to them, though some workers must be passing hard times unnoticed without complaining.
If there's one thing Marist Brothers don't play with, it's time management. Time is everything in the Marist establishment. Therefore, as a cook you must wake up before the students to start preparing their breakfast mostly.
It is expected that the cooks report in the kitchen as earlier as possible because the absence of one person in a group can cause a very big delay in preparing morning food. And the lateness can change a whole activity of the day even goes on in affecting the whole week.
What's affect the day affect the week and what's affect the week affect the month even goes on to affect the term. So it goes.
On Sunday mornings, tea and bread will be served while afternoon is garri and oha soup, though it varies.Their dinner would be white rice and meat stew. But nawadays, breakfast remains tea and bread, launch is pourage beans and gari with sugar while their dinner is white rice, boiled eggs and banga stew filled with stock fish, bonga and crayfish. The rest are ingredients.
The works in the kitchen are somehow divided among the workers. There are works for men and works for women. Though, in summary, management will tell you, the works are not shared because they believed in unity will stand and division will fall.
Some challenges in the kitchen are in the preparation of available food. Like, cutting of onions, knowing what ingredients to add and when to add it, salt normal measurements, carrying of heavy fire wood from its place, meeting undried fire wood, preparing meats for preservative reasons and meeting up with time and waking up earlier. But, if one is determined to work for Marist, the challenges are nothing but part of the work processes. You need to be patient to become a cook.
Many times, cooks go home around 7-8pm due to delays and difficulties in meeting up with some food menus Such as; preparing of miamia and filling of water for pap in the big pot for Friday morning food. This happens only on Thursdays.
On Tuesday's morning, the workers came to work around quarter to four while those who normally refers as late comers came around past four or exactly after five. The challenges in the Tuesday morning work is the breaking of the egg shells. The rest of the works are easy though it's a personal observation.
When you talk about serious works in the kitchen, never can one forget Thursday night food. It's fried potatoes and crayfish made stew. On Thursdays, the two groups must come to work in time. At least four bags of potatoes will be there for pilling and frying.One group came for pilling while the other group continue frying. To many, Thursdays works are things of thought because smokes will finish somebody's eyes.
Considering the work pattern in the Marist kitchen, though one may eat belly full, but the body pains and the effect of smokes to the eyes or the heat of fire on the other parts of the body may be agony after some years. Many of the Brothers would say, it is God that will pay the cooks. Well, that what teachers are told. I pray God should remember the cooks and teachers of Marist schools.
Concerning the easy working days; Sundays, Wednesdays, Mondays and sometimes during Opka days which the group involved would work as half day. It is half day because another group will come for the preparation of the Opka which serves as night food.
To students, they are served different types of vegetables, salad and carrot, groundnuts, maize and fruits from time to time. Students are given the rights to make certain suggestions about the food they have eaten whether prepared well or not for them. There 're other borden schools who don't consider on students affairs or inputs talk more on food served on the table.
Truly, everything has changed in the kitchen order of food arrangements due to frequent changing of procreators and brothers who serves as bursar. It is the bursar who takes charge of everything that's happening in the kitchen.
The works in the kitchen are numerous especially during raining seasons. Raining seasons affect the workers as well as the school curriculum because of environment, wet heavy fire wood and the time frame of getting food ready as earlier as six thirty to seven o'clock am. It's a big challenge.
During dry seasons, things seems easy in the kitchen department because there will be enough good dried up fire woods, vehicle hardly spoil inside the bush and more fruits are enjoyed even students no longer complain of cold and carter.
So, it is advisable to develop endurance of the heart if one must work in the Marist brothers of the schools kitchen department all over the world. Though, the brothers would always advice one to plan ahead of his destiny and not wholly trust their hearts in the works of Marist brothers who are more of missionary works.
Many people who reject Marist works does so because of time factors in most of their department. Yes, it is not easy. Earlier to work late to home. Even so, it is like that with the students they train, earlier to rise up to prepare for the day and late in the nights. One group of the kitchen people normally have off days on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays.
Nevertheless, there other departments in the kitchen that I did not mention their works activities because am not there to understand the working ethics. Such departments include; snacks or pestering department, cooler or dish department and food convenyors or simply called truck pushers. These people too are working seriously but cannot be compared with the works of the caterers.
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