I bet you never even heard about MOBIS, but it is worthy of your attention. It is a nonprofit dedicated to community projects such as cooking, arts and crafts and activities in general, in the different barrios of Aruba where the community-center have been collecting dust until MOBIS checked in, sustained, among others, by CEDE Aruba, with kingdom funds, but director Michael de Nobrega is determined to make is self-sustainable!
Last night I graduated their Vegan cooking class at Centro Di Bario Noord, with Chef Fari, and Vegan guru Meredith Marin. We made a delicious vegetable curry and a tasty chickpea salad, AND learned to make our own flat bread, to scoop the salad with.
The room was set with mini burners, all vegetables and other ingredients, cooking utensils; best of all, printed recipes, and step by step instruction. The men and women attracted to the activity were the culinary explorers of Noord, all professionals, willing to experiment and learn something new in the kitchen, after office hours. We even had a super impressive teenager with a knack for cooking, and two kids assisting their parents.
Wine? That too, one of the participants remembered to pack a chilled bottle to go!!
MOBIS has a website which you could consult, but their Facebook page is more updated BARIO BIBO. Their programs include Bario Chef, with Thai Cuisine listed, date to be advised. They have a soup curriculum and now also Vegan. All recipes taught are original by chef Fari who is as talented as she is charming. No wonder, she is the daughter of Tica Basha Bao, a famous TV personality on the island, a comedienne, and Chef Fari inherited a healthy doze of insanity from her.
The director, Michael, is an on-fire community activist. He is full of plans, to teach cooking and Papiamento to tourists and to incorporate all age groups into the MOBIS calendar. In February, MOBIS shuttled a group of forty elderly from Centro di Bario Lago Heights to another Centro di Bario mid island, where another group of forty elderly made soups and welcomed them, with music, for a Bario meets Bario mix and mingle.
They also conduct art classes for kids under Chispa Creativo, teaching mosaic and collage. Their Bario Chef Team Building is available for companies and any organization wishing to host an event out of the box and their Bario Chef Happy Healthy Kids, graduates groups of mini chefs every month.
Call them at +297 583 2233
They are headquartered at Stadionweg 27, Oranjestad, Aruba
Bario Bibo includes all nine barrio centers, check them out on FB.
https://www.stichtingmobis.org/
Thank you to the volunteers who helped wash the dishes!!
