By  : Kamraj Shanmuganathan, Ahmad Luqman, Lim Wei Yi, Dominic Foong and Toh Wei Tung

Back in 2016, four Malaysian students from Warwick University, Kamraj Shanmuganathan, Ahmad Luqman, Lim Wei Yi, Dominic Foong and Toh Wei Tung were successfully selected to be part of Project Teringai-Tumunda and Project Penyu. Since all five of these passionate and enthusiastic students are good friends and lived in university halls which were within close proximity to one another, they decided to unite their hearts and minds to fundraise for the projects. They pioneered “Don’t Cook for a Week” inspired by the various tasty Malaysian meals from the weekly dinners they had together. “Don’t Cook For A Week” successfully combined their talented culinary skills to create delightful Malaysian flavors to the Warwick student community.

This fundraising event was held for a week (9th May- 14th May), right before the exam period so their efforts were definitely not a simple walk in the park! Due to the endless possibilities of Malaysian flavor, they decided to have a different dish each day. They started the week with the traditional and infamous Nasi Lemak on Monday, Bihoon Goreng on Tuesday, Wednesday was dominated by Nasi Goreng Malaysia and Nasi goring Pattaya, followed by Nasi Campur on Thursday and the week ended with Claypot-style Chicken rice on Friday. These dishes were served with complimentary home-made banana and carrot cakes. The packaged food was then delivered to 3 key points in the university campus, where students would meet the chefs and collect their meals. The main avenue of communication throughout the week was Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/events/1775141116039139/?active_tab=posts) and students placed their orders using Google Forms.

​

Each dish was sold at an affordable student price ranging from 2.50GBP to 3.50GBP. For those who insisted to have all five dishes throughout the week, the chefs decided to give them a special deal of 15GBP for 5 meals, which was met with an overwhelming response as it was sold out in merely 5 minutes! They had a tremendous amount of help from their close friends who helped with the preparation of the food.

​

That was a demanding week for the five chefs. Apart from preparing an average of 70 meals per day, they had to revise for the upcoming final exams. However, the reward was fulfilling indeed! They managed to garner a whopping total of 662.14GBP, exceeding their minimum requirement of 500GBP for five volunteers. Their efforts would have been futile if it wasn’t for their helpful close friends who contributed to their efforts. They expected most of their customers to be Malaysians, but they were pleasantly surprised when 30% of their orders were contributed by international students from Spain, Poland and even the local British cleaners and resident tutors of the university accommodation. They were delighted to be able to share the tasty flavors of Malaysian food to non-Malaysians.

​

Throughout the whole journey, they supported one another. They are grateful for the support they received from the Warwick student community. They are confident that the money will be put to good use. In hindsight, though it was stressful as exams were around the corner, it was a memorable journey and they are very excited for the volunteering journey that lies ahead in July and August!