Lunch and a smile - to let them know they are not alone

Exactly at noon, in Novaka Ramova Street, in the center of Nikšić, the doors of the National Kitchen open, and Aleksandra Božović welcomes fellow citizens in poor material situations with a smile.

Along with a meal, prepared with love and attention, there is also a handshake - to let them know they are not alone.

"It's good that the National Kitchen exists, because thanks to it we have one safe meal and we know we won't be hungry. But it is not good that we are forced to ask for alms from the National Kitchen", said one user while waiting in line for his next meal.

And on the menu that day, thanks to the hardworking housewives, as well as donations from the Zagrađe monastery and the Nenezić family, there was everything - fritters, veal, chicken stew, pie, chocolate doughnuts.

"Sometimes they have two or three dishes so they can choose, sometimes there is only one meal. We try to make the meals tasty, healthy and plentiful, real home-style. We also try to respect our fellow citizens who are of the Islamic religion and to prepare dishes according to their taste", says Aleksandra, who cooks as a volunteer and is particularly proud of it. She is assisted by assistant Zorica Perunović, whose salary was provided by a Nikšić company, and they recently hired a girl who takes care of hygiene. He works three hours a day and, thanks to donors, he has a guaranteed income.

"Nina (Konstantina Vojinović) and I volunteer and it is not difficult for us at all. The biggest payoff to be had is their smiles and happiness and the fact that they are full. I thought I was a very strong person, but when I started working here I saw that I wasn't. There are so many sad stories that you cannot remain indifferent. There are ten families who are in a very difficult situation - I would give them my life just to make them happy. The biggest compliment to me is when they say they are full and bless me," says the "people's" cook. In the two and a half months since they have been working, they have prepared around 7.500 meals. And Aleksandra says that she believed that there would be much fewer of them. "The first day we started we had 59 meals. I was hoping that we didn't have so many people in need of the National Kitchen, that we would stop at a hundred meals. Unfortunately, there are more and more of them. We currently have 186 users, and new users arrive almost every day. And yesterday we got a new user. How long the list will go - I don't know, but I don't think we have the capacity for more than 200 users. I believed at first that this story would be short and that there would be a small number of people. I can't even think about it now. I'm sure we need a bigger kitchen with an even bigger capacity," says Aleksandra. The kitchen has one stove, several large pots and a lot of love and sacrifice.

The users are mainly from socially disadvantaged families, and there are also old and sick people who are unable to cook.

Food is delivered to those who are unable to come due to their health situation. There are about twenty of them.

"We have people who take meals for two days because they can't come every day. They are older, so we meet them and give them different meals for two days. As far as the delivery is concerned, we are talking about old people, single people who are over 80 years old, some of them have poor mobility. The menu is constantly different and since we started, we have repeated only two dishes". The soup kitchen is open every day, except Sundays, and meals are taken from 12:13 to XNUMX:XNUMX.

The National Kitchen project is worth around 46 thousand euros.

Awakened humanity, so food arrives from all sides

Thanks to the NGO "Izvor života" and Konstantina Maraš, the national kitchen was opened on July 22.

They received free space from the Municipality, which, thanks to donations, they renovated and equipped, the Municipality also pays electricity bills, and businessmen from the town of Trebjes, but also from other towns in Montenegro, provided food. The number of individuals donating food is also increasing.

"I am grateful to the companies that donate food to us. I am also pleased that an increasing number of citizens are donating. "We were even visited by the youngest fellow citizens, students of the primary schools 'Olga Golović' and 'Luka Simonović', and showed how little can be big," said Vojinović.