Khepera CIC - Adapting and Overcoming
Read all about how Khepera has adapted to continue helping the community during lockdown…
Community work is needed now more than ever!!
Along came corona!!
This year we had big plans for all of our community projects & after 2 years of hard work to get the Community Cooking & Wellbeing Kitchen off the ground – we were looking forward to opening doors for our cooking classes & health talks….. then along came Coronavirus. What about the launch of the kitchen, what about all the work we had spent months organising, what about our existing projects?
Action mode
The initial disappointment was soon overturned with a real desire to help people through this time!! For us health has always been a priority, but now more than ever we wanted people to focus on their health and use this time positively – just as we had decided to do.
Talking to members of the community we realised that from the young children to older adults, people were feeling anxious about school, work, finances, food supply, family & friends – as we faced lockdown the panic spread!!
We started creating online videos to help people understand that although this is a health crisis, there is so much we can do to help ourselves & release some of the anxiety. For years people have been saying “I need a break” – this is the first time in history we’ve all had a break & despite all the disruption we can still take advantage of this “break” that has been imposed on us.
Helping the community with their physical, mental & emotional health
We encourage people online on a daily basis to: -
*Reconnect with friends & family that you “never got round” to calling
*Reconnect with an old hobby or find a new one
*Chuck out the chintz – all those old items, jobs that get left “until we have time”
*Reconnect with yourself – have a regular pamper day, get into a regime that can work & prioritise your needs when things “get back to normal”
*Cook healthy meals – sharing recipes, meal ideas & tips on Facebook / Instagram
We also decided to re-invent our projects to deliver online: -
*Foodie Fridays – Or teen cooking project with Mama Bee is now #FFKT, Foodie Fridays Kitchen Takeover. Maintaining contact with the 20+ teens mostly from M&M area, cooking, discussions & playing games online. Maintaining a sense of normality for millennials and reconnecting with familiar faces really helps them during our weekly online meet ups.
*Better Together – a collaborative project for families to reconnect with each other. The project originally for Mothers & daughters soon expanded to include all family members. Along with Wycombe Youth Action, Flux Photographic, Fitness Garden - we delivered a fun, interactive sessions which included music / poetry writing, discussions, photography, cooking & fitness where young people are learning new skills, connecting with each other & adults in a safe environment.
*Cooking sessions – We created the hashtag #bigcoronacookout, where people can share their meal ideas, recipes & everything food related. Encouraging people to fall in love with the kitchen & looking after themselves through the food they eat.
Every cloud has a silver lining
Yes these are un-precendented times, and things are changing – but let’s make changes for the better, see what didn’t work for us before & shape life in the way that we want to. This break from “normality” gives us the chance to implement new ways into our lives, so let’s not look at it as a disaster, but a chance to do all those things that we “never had time for”.
Take care ans stay safe,
Charmaine x