I wasn’t the one to ever enter the kitchen before this project, but baking had caught my interest, and I wanted to try it out. So along with a few of my friends, we decided to learn how to bake a few very basic things on our own, and then share recipes or experiences later. Once we all became a bit good at baking basic things, we would meet up and bake something we all know, and then give that out to underprivileged children in our city. Disha Footpath is a place where we know a lot of underprivileged children lives, so we decided to deliver our baked items to.

LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
Baking was a big challenge for me, I never really baked or cooked before, so even if i Had a recipe, it was a confusing task to go about. I was unfamiliar with a couple of ingredients, mixing techniques, like one I added a lot of water all at once which made the consistency too liquidy, I had to readjust the recipe by adding more flour. I also struggled a bit with heating and preheating my dishes, I would either forget to preheat the oven or not check on the item tht is being made, which would lead to sometimes burnt tops or unbaked cake from the middle. I had to be more patient and attentive while baking.

LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
The project started with individual experience, we planned and set deadlines for us to learn how to bake basic things like sponge cake or chocolate cookies and then we decided on an item that everyone could make and the ingredients that we could get easily. We decided on an oreo cake and chocolate pops. From buying all the ingredients, dividing the cost, finding a place where we could all meet and bake and then to pack it up and take it to Disha footpath are all the steps that demonstrate how we initiated and planned the CAS project.

LO 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
Everyone had different recipes for something as common as a chocolate cake which obviously led to conflicts, but eventually by communicating and researching which recipe would be time and cost effective, we chose that. It was a lot of fun to be able to bake with my friends, and while baking is something that can be done individually, doing it together made the process speed up, and made us all more tolerant and patient with each other.


LO 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
The second SDG goal is “Zero Hunger” and even though our experience wasn’t on a very big scale, by baking a good amount of food and giving it out, we were successful in providing food to 25+ children who probably don’t get enough food on a day to day basis.
LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
When we were baking the project members and I personally had to ensure that others washed their hands thoroughly before all actions, since this was food going to small children during a pandemic, and it can’t be unsanitary in any way. We were also concerned about going to an unclean area to give food while COVID, but keeping sure that we wore masks properly and sanitised our hands as well as the hands of the people we were giving food out to, made our experience safe enough. These were very simple enthinic choices, but very important, while dealing with food, and young childrens with no easy access to medication.
To sum it up, this project was very fruitful and interesting for all project members as well as volunteers.