In Australia the native aboriginals suffered a hard blow when Western culture overpowered their simple, nomadic lifestyle. Since the invasion of the British in the 18th century, they have been consistently maginalized. Nowadays, it is an all too common a story to hear of children dropping out of school, substance abuse, unemployment and the list goes on. Many of these children suffer from very poor diets, either lacking in nutrition or not being provided regular meals by their caretakers.
So we jumped straight on board once our caravan kitchen was ready and are now providing regular prasādam meals to the local aboriginal children in the area. To everyone’s surprise they are eagerly eating the prasādam even though most of them had never tried vegetarian food and have parents that won’t touch our meals because they don’t have meat in it.
The Food For Life program by ISKM Cairns is also providing regular meals to the local neighbourhood center, where people who are in need of a meal can come and receive one. We are also getting involved with a Community Family Day that is organized once during every school holidays. We will also provide free meals to the children there. Through a local charitable organisation we also secure regular donations of fruit and vegetables and we receive grains donated by a local Indian store.
Due to this Food For Life Program, our stories and success have been featured in the local newspapers a few times. We feel thankful to Śrīla Prabhupāda to be engaged in this service.
