As the old saying goes, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet, and this was the case for the kitchen remodel project at the special needs orphanage Global Partners in Life supports in China. Since I have seen as many as 33 children living there at one time, I am thankful the number of children living there at the time of the remodel was smaller, because we certainly altered their normal process and working/cooking space.
As I have previously mentioned in other blogs about the kitchen remodel, the kitchen ceiling was only about 7 feet high, and there was nothing above it, so I am not sure why the decision was made to have a suspended ceiling. As you can see from the picture to the left, this part of the demolition was easy, but the impact of remodeling a kitchen was challenging to say the least for the cook. The cook is the brother-in-law of the manager, and he comes in and cooks for the children 3 meals a day. He also has a special needs child at home. I am very impressed by his love and care for the children. Oh, and he runs many errands, shops for food, and fixes what he can around the orphanage!
So, my friend that does the cooking had to leave the kitchen while the remodeling was taking place. Unfortunately, there isn’t any extra space to use, so he just made do with whatever he could find. He set up a small table with a propane tank nearby and a single stove top burner in a closet, and my friends would use a desk if nothing was available. Regardless of what was happening in the kitchen, the children had to be fed!
Even a piece of furniture in an open area became a new place to prepare food! I don’t know if the children found it interesting to watch the food being prepared where they once played, but it all worked out well in the end. Remember, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet!
