Hi friends!
Remember last year, I was asked to design a restaurant in the African country of Lesotho? Well the charity, Kick4life, has all the funds in order and the team has started construction! If you want to know how I got involved and what the project is all about, click here.
Kick4Life delivers a a range of projects for orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho. They provide holistic support by providing literacy training, housing and employment training. So with the restaurant, now called No.7, due to open next month, Kick4Life has been busy constructing the restaurant and training youth so they can run the restaurant and earn a living.
My friend and founder of Kick4Life, Pete, recently hired a fantastic couple to oversee the construction of the restaurant and run it for the first year of operation. Wayne and Tess hail from England, and while Wayne is busy being Head Chef, Tess will be the Restaurant Manager.
Here is a little from Wayne and Tess about No.7:
We will be open seven days per week and offer relaxed light lunches during the day and a more formal sit down meal during the evening. All the food will be made fresh on site with a good proportion of ingredients grown from our very own veg garden. The trainees will go through extensive training in catering and hospitality as well as growing and maintaining their own produce. By the time the trainees graduate they will be equipped with the required skills to go on and work in high-end establishments.
No.7 will aim to be as sustainable as possible and thanks to UNICEF we have been able to increase the volume of our veg garden by two fold and have started planting all the necessary herbs and vegetables so that they will be ready for the trainees to harvest when they start in January. We will run workshops for young people to come into the kitchen and learn how to prepare meals on our menu.
- Trainees learning how to roll meatballs!
- Trainees learning the facts of cooking. What is roux? What is blanching? What is the correct oven temperature used to bake bread?
- Trainees showing off their culinary masterpieces!
No.7 is due to open in the next month or so, and so far the team is off to a cracking start. I will bring you more updates about the design and construction of the restaurant over the coming weeks!
– Penny xo
P.S The number 7 is a lucky number is Africa!
