It was my platoon's turn to make the meals today. We we asked to resume by 4am! I got there 30 minutes late and wad already late for the morning shift. I put my name down for the afternoon shift and joined the parade.
At about 11am, half way into the lectures (yes, we still have lectures), I returned to the kitchen. Again I was late but I insisted. I already had plans for my late evening and wouldn't want anyone to disrupt it. Joining the night shift will make me late for fellowship, I didn't want that. Reluctantly, myself and the others were added to the afternoon shift. It turns out that we were of great help. The current shift makes sure they make adequate preparations for the next. Already, they were almost dive with the lunch, so we were only able to help with okro for dinner. Little did I know I won't get to have a taste.
We sliced okro into pieces small enough to be competed by blenders. I have never seen that much okro in my life - enough to serve 3000 people. It took us a while. The kitchen staff told us that the evening shift will slice 450 tubers of yam. Up till now, I have not been able to picture what that looks like. When we were done, we set ourselves in array ready to discharge our second to the last task-serving food.
My colleagues prepared jollof rice and chicken. This is the first chicken served in the camp. News travelled quickly and everyone turned up. I've never seen these many people queue up. Ten lines of about 250 or more people each. 4 corp members and a kitchen staff were assigned to each queue. One person serve rice, another watched, one served a security and the last ticked and checked meal tickets. The kitchen staff served the chicken. Maximum security was required for that. We didn't want any issues with management like chicked didn't go round.
I was chosen to check meal tickets. A lady in my group was afraid I wouldn't be able to handled the pressure. She called 2 well built guys to replace me but they didn't answer. I promised not to smile. It turned out I was tougher than the security. A friend was afraid to serve because he was favoured by a friend the previous day and felt indebted. I smiled just a few times though I suffered criticism. I could be hard too. When it comes to business I lay sentiment aside.
The number of turn outs for lunch was the largest ever on camp. Unfortunately, the quantity of rice and chicken was far to small. Lunch had to be cooked in three batches. Meanwhile, we were to pacify the crowd while meal got ready. Chicken finished at some point and beef was used as replacement. I understood the pressure faced by those who made the meals the previous days and promised to not to be rude on that queue anymore.
After everyone had eaten and the fury of hunger was dispersed, a got to eat our own lunch. Since real chicken had been exhausted, we were compensated with head and feet. I got two heads and 4 feet. Eating that was more work than standing on the queue for hours. but I embraced the challenge. I didn't like when one head fell down midway unto doing justice but we just must make progress nonetheless.
After Church, I returned to eat dinner but it was finished. What was left was just enough for those who made dinner they deserved to have their meal. I seem to miss dinner when I go to Church but it is a worthy sacrifice.
Do gave a lively time. Thanks for reading.
Broadsmile#
ReplyDelete