Touching hearts: Celebrity chef brings smiles to IDPs’ faces

Amina Elshafei shows off her cooking skills and reveals a few secret recipes along the way.

ISLAMABAD:

A small group of people peeped through the opening of a tent trying to catch a glimpse of Australia’s celebrity chef Amina Elshafei preparing a meal for Jalozai Camp’s internally-displaced persons (IDPs) on Tuesday.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Australian high commission have collectively planned activities for the Master Chef reality show contestant. “We took her to the hub of food-lovers, Lahore, where she had a chance to witness the exquisite side of Pakistan’s cuisine. But at the same time, we wanted her to visit Jalozai Camp and see the destitute side of Pakistan as well,” said Australian High Commissioner Peter Heyward.

The WFP operations officer and local administration briefed Elshafei on the nutritional challenges faced by women and children living at Jalozai Camp.

While visiting the tents where men and women waited anxiously for their daily food ration, Elshafei, a paediatric nurse by profession, witnessed the procedure the IDPs have to go through every day to secure a meal.

While speaking to The Express Tribune, Elshafei said she was saddened to see the condition of the children at the camp.

The camp saw a major surge in its population in 2012, during which around 26,000 new IDPs from Khyber Agency had arrived. From a population of around 38,000 in January 2012, figures went up to as high as 81,086 by the end of October 2012.

The past three months have seen a substantial influx of IDPs from the Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency. Currently, 6,560 children live at the camp.

According to data, up to 22.3 per cent of the Tirah Valley IDPs suffer from acute malnutrition and over 10 per cent from severe acute malnutrition.

“This visit has been an eye opener for me,” said Elshafei. “I had always read about Pakistan in the news, but to experience it in person has a different meaning altogether.  The children here are not nutritionally enriched, and they need a therapeutic hand to nourish them.”

The tent where Elshafei showed off her cooking skills was segregated.  Men filming the chef using their mobile phones were cheering as she speedily cooked a meal.

Meanwhile, shying away from the cameras, women clad in burqas were uncertain as to what was happening. Giggling in a corner, a young girl said she had not been this entertained in a long time.

Elshafei made lady fingers with a dash of spices and made an attempt to cook a chappati. While the audience seemed to enjoy her struggle with wheat flour, a local stole the show by showing off his cooking skills. He managed to make his chappati perfectly round. “I am impressed,” said Elshafei.

The Australian high commissioner, who was visiting the camp after a year, said the population fluctuation and general security situation adds to the challenges faced at the camp.

He said the Australian government is supporting WFP operations and expressed optimism that the next elected government would do the same.

WFP Country Director Lola Castro said that the agency was making efforts to improve its distribution of nutritious foods — which now include high energy biscuits — to the camp’s women and children.

The agency distributes 101kg food baskets to each of the camp’s 12,000 families every month, she said.

The Jalozai camp, located 35 kilometres southeast of Peshawar, has been home to thousands of refugees for decades.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2013.