Traditional Karen meal brings community together on World Refugee Day

We had a very exciting week with the English Language Assistance Program (ELAP) students at both Coolock and St Marys. On Monday the St Mary’s students held a very profitable stall, selling donated scarves to the staff and students. The money raised will go to supporting refugee programs in the school.

On Wednesday the St Mary’s students travelled to the Coolock Campus and cooked a traditional Karen food lunch, which was most delicious and enjoyed by the students and staff. Here’s what the class said about the cooking day:

“On Thursday 20 June we celebrated World Refugee Day by cooking some traditional Karen food. Students from both St Mary’s and Coolock campuses were involved. We cooked several dishes including pakapow, kung pao noodles, Karen fried rice and sticky rice. It was really fun to cook our food all together.  In traditional Karen cooking we don’t really use recipes which scared a few of our teachers, but they were impressed when they tried the food and it was delicious. Although we cooked a mountain of food there was hardly any left by the end of lunch as we invited our friends and teachers to taste some of our cooking. It was a really great day and so fun to share our culture and cooking for World Refugee Day.”

The St Mary’s ELAP students learnt some Australian bush dances and demonstrated traditional Karen dance when they returned from Coolock on Thursday.

Ms Stephanie Dole & Mr Rod Kerr, EAL Teachers