When we were told that we were allocated to the “Catering” team, many of us did not know what to expect. When we arrived at Ouanaminthe on the first night, we were immediately summoned to the kitchen where Alan Mc Kenna welcomed us. He told us that we had an immediate task to serve our fellow volunteers with food which had been prepared prior to our arrival. The first thing that I noticed was that the kitchen was very well equipped. Having carried out our first task, we had a team meeting and began to organise for breakfast on Monday morning. Roles were allocated with Alan taking charge of the Kitchen group and John Brennan taking charge of what we described as “front of house”.
We had a core group who stayed in the Catering team for most of the week while some volunteers took time out to get involved in the direct building work. Many volunteers joined the catering team as substitutes and this added to the fun in the kitchen.
George Hook described the catering crew as an eclectic group in his article in the Sunday Independent. He was so right. Starting with George himself, his fried eggs caused a real stir on the first day. Our core team in the kitchen along with Alan included Rosaleen, Rena, Tom, Vinnie (Amazing Grace), Joey and Hayley. The front of house team was led by John Brennan (How’s the water doing?), Mary (The Real Boss), Aoife (Up the Déise), Emer (I’m not actually from Paris), Dennis (I’m from Cork by the way) and myself.
Who could forget the wonderful Crowley family of Geraldine, Jean and Bernard? We were also joined by Rita, Olive, Julie and Candice whose lunchtime gig went down very well. Of course we also had the surprise of the week when June and Dave became engaged. Many friendships were forged among the team and I expect many of the group back again with Haven. We may not have laid many blocks, plastered many walls or completed any roofs but we did feel that our role was very important to the overall Build it Week.
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