Course:LFS350/Projects/Fall2016/ISS Afghans

Project Summary

Purpose

This project is an exciting opportunity to discover the experiences and food literacy skills of new and recent Afghan immigrants

• Students will be provided with the recipes in English/Dari and will be expected to identify retailers that offer the ingredients, taking into account this community’s needs for low-cost and halal products
• Prepare a recipe and resource guide for Afghan immigrants in the Burnaby Edmonds neighbourhood

Areas of Focus

• Food literacy fro new and recent immigrants
• Healthy, low-cost, culturally appropriate meal planning and preparation

Skills

• Developing resources to identify and communicate healthy, low-cost, and culturally appropriate groceries

Location

East Burnaby

Special Considerations

• Travel to Burnaby is part of this project and therefore suitable fro students who live in, near or commute through the area.
• Ability to be sensitive and aware of cultural differences pertinent to new or recent immigrant populations.
• This is collaborative project with another LFS 350 group so inter-group communication is a must!

What is the Opportunity?

Organization name: Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC)

Mission of organization:

Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC) is the oldest not-for-profit immigrant serving agency in BC (formed 1968, incorporated 1972). With the mission of “Helping immigrants build a future in Canada,” ISSofBC's mandate is: to deliver educational, settlement and employment services, develop partnerships with local communities and to promote an integrated and equitable community. Today, ISSofBC is one of the largest multicultural immigrant serving agencies in Canada, serving over 30,000 immigrants & refugees annually. ISSofBC provides a wide range of services for immigrant clients including settlement in over 45 languages, ESL language classes, employment services for immigrants & employers, community connections, and targeted supports to children, youth, refugees and women. ISSofBC has over 400 staff located in 17 sites throughout Metro Vancouver, Squamish, Kamloops and Oliver, and 1000 active volunteers.

Description of project opportunity:

ISSofBC would like a group of students from the Faculty of Land and Food systems to prepare a recipe and resource guide for Afghan immigrants in the Burnaby Edmonds neighbourhood. Students will be provided with the recipes in English/Dari and will be expected to identify retailers that offer the ingredients, taking into account this community’s need for low-cost and halal products. The student group will be responsible for creating maps and taking photographs (or finding acceptable use images through creative commons) and putting everything together with the recipes to create a visually appealing recipe and resource guide that can be both printed and hosted online. This project provides students with the opportunity to help develop a resource that can be used by newly arrived Dari speaking refugees settling into East Burnaby and will form the basis for the development of further resources for vulnerable clients. As a wrap up to the project students and seniors will have an opportunity to meet cook and share a meal together based on the completed recipe book.

Skills required:

• Nutritional and food security knowledge (ideally with (or interested in) a cross cultural perspective)
• Food shopping experience
• An eye for good photos and graphics
• Self-motivated work habits are essential for this project.

Skills to be developed through the opportunity:

• Cultural competence
• Leadership
• Problem solving
• Application of nutritional and food security knowledge in a cross- cultural context.
  

Project location: The project will take place in East Burnaby, which can be reached by Skytrain (Expo or Millennium) or bus (106).

Days of week and hours project will take place?: Students can visit East Burnaby and do online research at their convenience. If desired, students may have the opportunity to meet and share a meal with a group of senior Afghan women that contributed the recipes for this project. The group meets on Wednesdays in Burnaby from 11:30am-1:30pm.

Primary contact for the students:

1. Thea Fiddick, Manager Settlement Services Burnaby
   Email: thea.fiddick@issbc.org
   Address: 7355 Canada Way, Burnaby, BC
   Phone: 604-395-8000 ext 1631
   Website: www.issbc.org
   

Expected outcomes

Learning outcomes:

• Connect classroom concepts and theories with real life examples
• Articulate personal and professional significance in the learning experience
• Identify nutritional resources available in Burnaby

Organizational Outcomes:

• A resource to support and orient clients to nutritional resources in their community
• The ability to better support vulnerable clients facing food security issues
• An informed understanding of assets in our community
• A better ongoing relationship with the university.