A Very Late Lunch-The Indomie Noodle Giveaway
An Indomie Noodles give-away in Mathare last Saturday resulted in disappointment after the organisers of the event failed to turn up at the designated time.
Local football organizer Austin Ajowi spread the word about the going’s on that were happening on the afternoon of February 14th, mobilizing some 150. “The kids will feel important,” says Austin Ajowi, “And it’s a good thing for everyone on Valentine’s Day.”
As the clock ticked on, the kids started to get a great deal more restless, some taking to drinking, some huffing glue. Fights and arguments popped up. Blame for the lateness was placed on riots at Jogoo Road. Ajowi agreed it was possible saying, “Protests always mess up traffic.” At 1:15 P.M. Indomie arrived, setting up a mobile kitchen for the giveaway. By two the noodles were being handed out.
The event was designed to be a free meal for street kids in the area, many of whom participate in local football programs. “This is a great way for Indomie to give back to the community,” said Dinka Basuki a public relations worker with Indomie.
The event was came after a city-wide drive by Indomie to distribute packets of noodles across Nairobi in order to raise their profile, “We distributed packets in buses, to newspaper vendors and to traffic police,” says Basuki “It’s an attempt to promote us and to spread love for Valentine’s Day.”
Indomie is a prominent company in manufacturing instant noodles. They have a food program with local schools in the Mathare area, and according to them it’s a selling point on getting kids into the classroom.
When the Indomie workers were asked about the protests, none seemed to have encountered protests. Basuki said “I didn’t know that was happening,” she says, “We didn’t see anything.” It is unclear whether or not the offices were simply miss-communicating or covering for their tardy behaviour.
The event was hardly the sort of public relations hit Indomie were hoping for, with a poor and late showing; in the end just giving a bit of noodles to under privileged children.
