A grand community dinner was held by The Excell Empowerment Centre (TEEC) to fundraise for computers on October 24 at the First Luthern Church Winnipeg, serving a delicious three course Sudanese dinner. TEEC’s director Rebecca Deng said it wil be an annual event that originally started in 2019, but had to stop during the COVID pandemic.
“The whole meal was designed and served by the participants in the program,” said Mathew Joseph, programming and special projects director who said the organization has been fundamental in supporting newcomer women and girls, many who have come from refugee camps, and are learning English. He added that TEEC has helped women to organise childcare for mothers, and innovative programming to help connect women to resources in the community.
Appetizers and the main course included South Sudanese Akop, Tamiya, and Kababs, Bamia, and hearty vegetablw stew on the menu, and Kuiin ee Jiang and Balah al-Sham were served for dessert.
A previous initiative of the centre with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) was to teach sewing skills, and Dudu Make brought some of her beautiful clothing designs to sell at the dinner.
TEEC hoped to raise $10,000 to purchase computers for the centre, to teach digital literacy, online job searches and internet navigation.
Mary Scott spoke at the event about the history of the Sudanese war, and MLA Lisa Naylor brought greetings, saying that when she heard about the event, she “definitely wanted to support it.”
Dance performances brought the evening to a close, but not before audience members joined in to groove to the music.
Joseph said the event fell just $300 short of their fundraising goal, but a charitable donation can be made anytime online through their website, or Canada Helps.