My tiredness goes away when I see them happy
- Zarintaj Muzaffari
How many people have I fed?
10… 20 thousand maybe… I cannot keep count.
I became the head cook in 2015, having worked here as a part-time cook since 2007. Since then, I have interacted more with clients and counselors. My husband worked as a caretaker of the building, and I felt more attached to the place.
I gained a better understanding of people and that they have been through trauma. I try to make them happy by making something for them.
I learnt many Syrian dishes and some Egyptian dishes for that.
Making good, nutritious food requires lots of love. In my opinion, food is medicine. We can cure and prevent many diseases through food. When I feed our clients here, I also monitor them to see what they throw away.
Then I approach them and ask, “What do you want? I have groceries, so let me make you something that you would like.”
Some of them, after eating, come and tell me, “The food was delicious.”
And all my tiredness goes away when I see that they are happy.
I share extra food that we have with our staff, and they say, “Thank you, Mama Zari.”
It makes me very happy.
There are problems too, sometimes, with clients. I try to understand as I know they have had trauma in the past, and they are very sensitive. When I serve food, I try to organize their minds. Initially, most of them are not organized. When I ask what they want, they jump from this dish to that.
I tell them, “Let’s start from one side and go from there.”
It takes them a few days to calm down. When they come in with kids and ask for food, I tell them to let them talk. Sometimes, they say, “They don’t know the language.”
I try to assure them that we can talk through body language. The first day, the kids are behind their moms. A week later, they come without mom and dad, and you feel that they are comfortable in Canada now.
Zarintaj Muzaffari, popularly known as Mama Zari, is a trained Gynaecologist. Born in Iran, she had to flee the country once it became the Islamic Republic as she was an activist in her younger days.