Joseph's Breakthrough In Cooking

When Joseph was on Christmas holiday at Calvary Care Home (CCH) last December, the new cook Matha had not yet come in. So I sometimes volunteered to cook. One day I noticed an overripe pineapple in the kitchen. I decided to use it, capsicum, tomatoes and a whole chicken cut into pieces to cook a sweet sour dish for lunch and delegated Joseph who was offering a helping hand. The result turned out so successful that the CCH boys could not wait until dinner to have the second round of the meat. They finished all the leftover chicken for snacks while watching a movie on DVD in the afternoon!

At Montfort Youth Centre where he was under a vocational programme and residential care, he was trained to help in preparations of meals. This month, Joseph was around for another three-week break. Knowing that I would come to CCH the following Tuesday, he was happy to be in charge of the dinner that night so that I had a chance to taste his cooking again.

When I arrived that afternoon, he was planning to cook a better version of the sweet sour chicken. He needed chili sauce but the new bottle was kept in the store room. Only the worker Mohan was holding the key. Joseph and Isaac asked me if I could telephone him to come over to open the room. Not wanting to either disturb Mohan or disappoint Joseph, I said to this youngster, "You just take whatever you can find in the kitchen. A real good chef is one who can survive in any situations and use any ingredients around him to cook something delicious. I'm sure you can do it."

He was willing to take the challenge, so I went to the dining room to help other boys with their homework. When it was over seven o'clock, Joseph proudly presented his cuisine

and his sous-chefs Luke and Daniel.

Not only the dishes, nicely decorated on top, were appetizing visually, the taste was also very good. Since the portion was just enough to be shared by all of us for a single meal, we could only look forward to his next cooking with the secret recipe again. At the table, I kept giving compliments to Joseph. He was glad to have tried something different after my encouragement earlier.

I hope that this breakthrough in cooking was just the beginning. When Joseph experiences more breakthroughs in other aspects of life, he will be able to achieve his potential better.