Food is the best way to unite a community.
Following a win with this idea in March, Grade 10 Star College learner Tabish Zaheer Mukhtar hosted a community luncheon for residents and faith leaders from the greater Athlone area on Saturday 30 September.
Mukhtar was announced as the only Cape Town winner as part of a national school competition hosted by the National Department of Sports, Culture and Art and the Turquoise Harmony Institute regarding social cohesion.
“In essence, my project is about bringing different people together through food,” he said. “I plan on having a lunch where Cape Malay culture will be highlighted and provide an opportunity for dialogue between people of different faiths and cultures.”
On Saturday 18 March, the department hosted an awards ceremony for The Social Cohesion project competition for high-school students. According to the department, the competition aims to promote social cohesion and combat discrimination and division in the country.
“The competition aimed to encourage young people to develop innovative solutions to promote unity and respect among people from different cultures, religions, and backgrounds,” reads a statement by the department following the awards ceremony. “Esteemed guests from academia, media, government, NGO and education sectors attended to celebrate the achievements of the young people and their innovative solutions to promote social cohesion in South Africa.”
During the ceremony the winners were presented with their awards and spoke about their projects and their motivations for participating in the competition. The winners were selected based on the potential impact, feasibility and creativity of their projects. Following the awards the various winners received funding to implement their projects in the real world, making a positive impact in their communities.
The winning commendations described the projects as “outstanding”.
“[Mukhtar] project was titled ‘Collective Catering’ and sought to bring people from diverse backgrounds together through food, creating opportunities for conversation and connection,” his commendation reads.
The event, implemented last week, saw a celebration of Cape Malay cooking.
“I chose food as the focus of this project because when I first saw the competition’s premise of ‘bringing people together’ I immediately tried to think of things that everyone liked,” said Mukhtar. “Food was the first thing I thought of because who doesn’t like food? After combining food with the topic of bringing people together, choosing the people I wanted to invite was easy I decided on inviting a small part of each major religion in Cape Town.
“The first time I heard of the competition was on the posters plastered around our school, last year, however, I did not think much about it. This was until people from the Turquoise Harmony Institute came to our school and did a whole presentation on Social Cohesion, explaining the concept and competition. This was inspiring and to me, personally, felt like a challenge which resonated with my competitive spirit and was thus a motivation of the hours I poured in on getting my project to be well-made and inclusive.”
Mukhtar said he had consulted his English teacher, Shanitha Gounden, who proofread the document and gave constructive criticism which he implemented before sending it for judging.
“A few months later, I heard back that my project was a part of the Top six projects among all the projects created by students across the country.
“What shocked me even more was that I was invited to go to Johannesburg and present my project for final judging,” Mukhtar said. “After countless hours perfecting my presentation with the help of Ms Gounden, I presented and was ecstatic to hear that I had won first place.
“Winning felt satisfying as the outcome of all the work that I had to do. It was part of a long journey that started with a written report that I typed out about the premise of my project.”
The event, which was hosted at the school in Bridgetown, saw representation from residents all over the Cape Flats, joined by faith leaders from the Christian, Hindu and Muslim religions in attendance.
The meal started with cream soup, followed by lamb Ahkni for mains and boeber for dessert. Other treats were also on offer.
“For the cooking of the dishes,” Mukhtar continued, “we decided to support local businesses, so we have most of the main food coming from cape-based catering places. Family members of my Cape Malay friends are making the deserts to make them feel authentic. Lastly, with the help of these friends we made the savouries ourselves. I chose to highlight the food of the Cape Malay culture because it has unique foods that can easily resonate well with many different people which is fitting for this competition,” says Mukhtar.
The nasheed (reciting) played in the background for entertainment and various speakers addressed the guests.
