‘It’s not just about feeding to show people we’re there
For many people, lockdown has brought with it isolation and lower income as well as the challenge of shopping for food. One charity which has stepped in to help is Food For Life Wales, run by Hare Krishna devotees. They’ve now delivered more than 20,000 h
BACK in the days when city-centre shopping was a thing, you’d probably have heard them before you saw them.
Dancing and singing, saffron-robed monks from the Hare Krishna movement were a regular sight around the streets of Cardiff.
Believers follow traditional scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam, meditating and chanting for several hours a day, starting as early as 4.30am.
Lockdown has ended all collective worship and closed down the not-forprofit vegetarian/vegan Atma Cafe the devotees run in the Capitol Centre. But an unintended consequence is that they’re producing more of their plantbased hot meals than ever.
Soon after we were all told to stay at home and save lives, the monks, nuns and a small army of volunteers mobilised to prepare and deliver free plantbased meals to vulnerable and elderly people, as well as frontline NHS staff.
Through their charity, Food For Life Wales, they’ve now cooked and distributed around 20,000 plant-based meals to more than 700 households, each one produced in line with their central principle of “non-harm”. After starting in a small area of Cardiff, deliveries now also go out in Swansea, Barry, Caerphilly and Pontypridd.
Those at the centre of this mammoth effort give a fascinating insight into what drew them into the movement and how the meal delivery initiative has blossomed, drawing together people from all faiths and none.
Kim Butts, who is 22 and originally from Caerphilly, is a full-time volunteer. She lives with the movement in a flat next to the community building they run in Bute Street called Ty Krishna Cymru.
You could go up and down Bute Street hundreds of times without realising it’s there, but they’re hoping that, after lockdown and when it’s safe to do so, it’ll become somewhere many more people will want to visit and improve their lives.
“Ty Krishna is a yoga centre, a community building which we’re hoping will be a hub for people to come to practise mindfulness, meditation, a healthy lifestyle and just a more fulfilling life,” she says, explaining how in normal times they run meditation sessions and yoga classes as well as offering healthy plant-based meals in the building.
When Kim talks about yoga, she’s not just referring to the bending and twisting which usually comes to mind first. She’s referring to a wider spiritual lifestyle which places great importance on meditation and karmic action – working for the benefit of others with no expectation of reward.
“The building was set up by a community of monks and monk-nuns and people who’ve been in the community for a long time, so it’s primarily a Hare Krishna organisation, but it’s not just a building for Hare Krishnas, it’s a nonsectarian building which aims to unify everyone and bring everyone together,” she adds.
“It’s a place for people to come and learn about the yoga lifestyle and how to live a more peaceful way and be an all-round better person.”
Kim became involved about four years ago when she was “at quite a difficult place” in her life.
“I wanted to try meditation and met some of the monks on the street in Cardiff,” she recalls.
“Eventually, after receiving many books and flyers, I decided to go to a meditation session. I very quickly saw the results and decided to find out more.
“The thing that won me over most, though, was the people, how you could find a genuine sense of kindness and compassion which was wonderful.”
A different daily vocabulary has come along with the coronavirus crisis – furlough, lockdown, pivot.
Like all organisations, the Hare Krishna movement in Wales had to make a swift turnaround, or pivot, in its activities. And, from that, the Food For Life delivery service has grown and grown.
Head monk Tarakanatha Dasa is a former rugby-playing miner from Abertridwr, near Caerphilly, who’s been involved in the movement for more than 30 years.
“All our activities stopped, all our fundraising activities, we had to close Ty Krishna, closed the cafes and one of our main ways of fundraising was through selling books on the streets,” he explains.
“The whole country was on lockdown, we felt a bit helpless, because all the activities had shut down.”
Wanting to play their part, they thought about what the devotees could do instead.
“Especially during that initial lockdown, it was completely dark times, no-one knew what was going on, so we just wanted to support frontline workers and everyone else, to do our bit,” he adds.
They came up with the idea of connecting through food, expanding Food For Life Wales, which had originally started in Swansea.
“We weren’t doing door-to-door but we were doing plant-based meals and working with other charities,” says Kim. “Once or twice a week we’d go to Oasis [a charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers] and feed around 200 refugees and asylum seekers, so we’d generally work with other organisations.”
Kim explains how they began the door-to-door service by delivering leaflets in a small area of Cardiff.
“We started with no volunteers apart from the in-house monks and nuns and the general community already associated with Hare Krishna. They were giving out flyers door-todoor,” she says.
“The flyers say, ‘If you need help, we’re here to help, please call and we’ll provide a hot plant-based meal.’
“Within the first day we had about 30 people come back to us. We continued giving flyers out and it grew very rapidly. People started to hear about us and we used social media to spread the word.”
They also contacted other organisations like centres for homeless people and charities working with disabled people.
“Because I’m from Caerphilly, I suggested we start there, where there were people I knew who were willing to help out in,” Kim adds. “Very quickly they jumped on board and Caerphilly boomed quite quickly and the community was so lovely.
“We had one elderly lady who’d asked for a meal and said, ‘Ooh, I’ll tell my friend,’ and quickly you had 10 or 12 elderly ladies who all knew each other. It was just word of mouth, which was really sweet.”
As it grew, they needed to recruit volunteers and raise funds, with Kim putting the word out on their social media channels.
There are now more than 50 volunteers to chop vegetables, pack and deliver the meals. Cardiff’s Hindu Shree Swaminarayan temple which, like all religious buildings, was closed to worshippers, offered its bigger kitchen to the scheme. Other faith groups have become involved, too.
“We’ve got two men from St Peter’s Church in Cardiff,” says Kim. “They’re really wonderful, they come multiple times a week and they’re not just delivering food but they’re also seeking to see how many more people they can help.
“If we have any leftovers, they come and take it to the Huggard Centre [for homeless people] and they’re always asking what they can do, so we’re working with lots of different faiths, which is wonderful.
“I’ve found the community spirit incredible, different shops have been coming and giving what they can, donating vegetables, or we’ve had community members doing whiprounds in their communities, we’ve had so many little things like that which make a difference and it illuminates the camaraderie and community spirit that we seem to have lost over time.”
Food For Life Wales isn’t just about nutrition, it’s also about encouraging people to try, and maybe even switch to, plant-based eating for the sake of the environment as well as their own health and wellbeing.
The movement advocates the principle of ahimsa, translated as non-violence.
It’s a belief central to yogic philosophy and the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism that all living beings have a spark of divine energy and that to hurt other creatures is ultimately the same as hurting oneself.
“It’s showing people that you can have a delicious meal that’s incredibly good for you, but also it doesn’t have to harm anyone,” says Kim.
“We’re seeing the effects of mass farming and how it’s not sustainable for this planet, so we need to look at alternative ways of living to try to move forward as a society.”
She says most, but not all, recipients love the food they’ve been given.