“Every child has the right to grow up in a loving and responsible family.”
This quote sits at the heart of the children’s home I was blessed to call home and serve at for a period of 14 months during 2019. Not only do these precious children have the right to grow up in a loving and responsible family but they have the right to a normal childhood even during their days of “institutionalisation”.
One of my favourite things to do during this season of my life was to bake and create cakes that reflected these kids personalities and likes for their birthdays.
Turning cakes into art isn’t the easiest of tasks and it certainly came with its challenges especially in a children’s home with limited resources. But their smiles, their joy and the fact that each little piece of art in the form of cake gave them something special to remind them just how loved and special they are despite their circumstances.
Sterilised rulers make great buttercream smoothing tools, cans covered in glad wrap work as a rolling pin, a busy kitchen makes for plenty of people to eat the scraps but also loads of distractions! Even better was getting the young ones involved in making cakes for their friends and watching them be creative!
Isn’t it amazing?
I am a Young Salvationist who lives in Upper Hutt, Wellington. I am passionate about enhancing the life experiences of others and do this in my paid employment as a Support worker for those with Intellectual Disabilities and as a volunteer leader for GirlGuiding New Zealand. I love to create, write and travel the world and have a passion for submerging myself in the cultures of each place I travel. I left my heart in Africa a month before Covid sent the world into lockdown and I cannot wait to be able to return and serve in a continent that stole so much of my heart.