Natural Breaks have been lucky enough to be working with Liverpool Community Spirit for 3 years now. People we support have really benefited from being a part of their “A Taste Of Life” programme, which gives people an insight into different cultures, their customs, their hospitality, the food they eat and how it is prepared – it really is a fantastic course. 

On this course we have Anthony, Hilary, Mustafa, Jody, Paula, Sarah, Louis and Caroline on board.  Diane who was on the previous course is going to be volunteering and helping Alison with the preparations for 3 of the sessions and is really excited about the opportunity to do this.

We learned about Islam and being a Muslim.  There are lots of famous Muslims – Muhammed Ali, Mo Farah, Mo Salah and William Quilliam – later Abdullah Quilliam who opened the first mosque in Liverpool which was something no one knew.  We made lamb koftas with rice and vegetables, hummus, homemade lemonade and date cake.  Everyone really enjoyed preparing food together. 

We then went to speak with Nada who is a Muslim and came to talk to us about Islam.  Nada told us that she prays 5 times a day, she always prays towards Mecca and always washes her hands, feet and face before she prays – it is very important to do this.  Nada told us about the 5 Pillars of Islam and said that like Christians, Muslims believe there is only one God – called Allah and he has 99 names in Islam.  She also said that the Holy Book in Islam is called the Koran which is like the Bible in Christianity.  Nada also told us about Ramadan and how Muslims cannot eat or drink during daylight hours and the reason they do this is to celebrate Allah’s message to Muhammed. Nada told us that at the end of each day of Ramadan the first thing that people eat are dates as they are sweet and have energy in them after a long day of fasting. Nada said that there are always dates in people’s homes and if you went to visit you would always be offered dates by your host. 

Hilary said “I’ve loved smelling the lovely oils and perfumes that Nada has shown us today, they are beautiful”.

This week was a bit special as it was Jody’s 40^th Birthday and Paula was in charge of baking a date cake to celebrate.  Paula said “I’ve enjoyed the course so far – I’ve brought my talking scales in that I got from RNIB as my eyes aren’t too good and it makes it so much easier to weigh all the ingredients.  The cake came out really well”.

We all sang to Jody Happy Birthday and he shared his cake with everyone. 

It was another fantastic session with Liverpool Community Spirit and we are so very grateful for being involved with them again.  Thank you.

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