The Launch of KAMA Oxford

On Saturday 7 July – a blazingly sunny afternoon – we at KAMA Oxford held our official launch event at the East Oxford Community Centre. We decked out one of the centre’s (beautifully air-conditioned!) halls with strands of bunting and set up stands showcasing KAMA’s work: a table of musical instruments from around the world, a ‘guess the spice’ game, some origami, and a photo display of some of the workshops and events held by KAMA Oxford’s sister organisations in Washington DC, Graz and Vienna.
 
We were delighted that Feng came to play his guitar, singing some beautiful, traditional Chinese folk songs, and that Souad, from Algeria, treated us to a crochet demonstration, showing examples of her previous creations. We are looking forward to courses delivered by both!  
Isabel, our founder, gave a talk about KAMA Oxford, and our raison d’être, and thanked everyone for coming.
 
Our taste of KAMA courses to come continued with three fantastic cooking demonstrations from four more women from the Refugee Resource women’s group. Dilber showed us how to make some mouthwatering Turkish Adana kebabs. Then Bibi, a Mauritian lady, led everyone into the kitchen, where she made chicken shawarma from scratch. To round off the feast, Lubna and Waed (from Iraq and Syria) made a great bowl of fresh tabbouleh with some artfully peeled vegetables in the shape of roses (carved by Waed, effortlessly, in seconds!).
 
All the food was gathered together, along with donations from the Hayfield Deli, Beetroot Café, Aleppo’s Falafel, Olives and Cous Cous Café, and everyone was invited to tuck in, before the ceremonial cutting of a splendid cake provided for the occasion by Millefeuille Patisserie. KAMA Oxford is go!