Apart from a great tasting dish, team spirit, presentation and innovation will be some of the criteria used to crown the winner of in the “Ultimate Cook-off” which is a Mandela Day initiative the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Samsung/Hirsch’s and CCI-GrowthCon will jointly participate in at the Ethelbert Child and Youth Care Centre on Friday 21 July 2017.

The Ethelbert centre has been home to vulnerable children since 1906 that have been removed from their parents because of sexual and/or physical abuse, severe neglect, abandonment, and those orphaned because of HIV/Aids. Currently housing 65 children the centre aims to break the cycle of abuse and to build up the self-esteem and confidence of the children in their care.  This is achieved by providing the children with a stable, loving environment, offering them counselling and therapeutic support to help them work through and learn how to deal with their experiences.  Ethelbert’s child-orientated programmes, dedicated social worker, psychologist, and childcare workers help children in their care to develop positive life-skills in a secure and loving environment.

The Social Workers work simultaneously with the children’s families, providing therapy and counselling to them to ensure that they too also receive support to overcome the reasons why their child was removed from their care.

Ethelbert Child and Youth Care Centre will be treated to a day filled with delicious treats and great ambiance. Five individuals will make up each team that will cook for a group of 15 children.  Each team is required to cook a main meal and a dessert (the team chooses the menu). There will be judging of the meals afterwards in the hall before everyone sits down to eat lunch together and to share their dishes. 

The meals will be judged by four judges comprising of two Ethelbert “old boys”, Kathryn Buchana (Ethelbert’s Chairlady), and Chef Rev (co-owner of Pop-Up Society.

 â€œThe true character of society is revealed in how it treats its children” â€" Nelson Mandela