THE RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

AN asylum seeker forced to leave his family behind and flee his home has told how a community cooking project has helped him feel at home in Inverclyde.

Your Voice Inverclyde have been running culinary sessions in collaboration with the health and social care partnership, whose community chef John O’Neil has helped design the workshops and source ingredients.

The initiative aims to give the men involved the chance to cook dishes from their home countries, with the team serving up a variety of dishes, including Halal chicken, flatbreads, spicy soups and whole fish.

Mutaz Ibrahim, from Sudan, has attended several of the cooking afternoons at Grieve Road Community Centre.

He told the Tele that the activities organised by Your Voice and the council had helped take his mind off the difficult situation he left behind him.

Mutaz said: “Coming to the cooking classes has been a great activity for us, we would go crazy if we just sat in the hotel.

“Everyone here is helping us so much, they’ve also helped us get lots of exercise and stay fit.

“If you’re an asylum seeker you need to be doing activities as much as possible, so you don’t think too much about your situation.

“We have to take our minds off of everything and this is a big help.

“I’m married and I have three sons and two daughters still over in Sudan, but hopefully they can come over.

“We’re waiting for an interview with the Home Office and hopefully they will accept us.

“The situation over there is very bad, which is why I came here.

“This is a very safe country for us. “I’ve loved the cooking, making chicken with rice and beans — it’s great.”

The asylum seekers are currently living at the Holiday Inn in Greenock which was requisitioned by the UK Government earlier this year for the men to live in while their claims are being processed. Kevin Begley, one of Your Voice’s community connectors, has been organising activities to give the men staying at the hotel something to do.

He said: “John’s shown them a lot of new skills that they can add to their existing knowledge of their traditional cuisines.

“The fact they can come up here and cook with their own ingredients is fantastic.

“They tell John what they want him to get and then prepare it all themselves, it’s always a feast.”

Chef John, who also runs sessions aimed at teaching locals how to prepare healthy meals, says he’s learned a lot from cooking with the men.

He added: “It’s opened my eyes to some different ways of cooking.

“When I took on the role of community chef it was to teach groups about healthy eating, but this is something a bit different.

“It gets the guys out and gives them something a bit different to do, it’s been great.”