Savour Afghan cuisine while helping newcomer youth at a Winnipeg school

Winnipeggers will soon hear inspiring stories of resilience and faith while enjoying an authentic culinary journey to Afghanistan.

The 2025 Freedom Feast is an annual fundraising dinner to support Freedom International School. “It’s always hosted in our school, in our facility. We don’t do fancy venues because we want to invite people in to see exactly what we do, where we do it,” Cyndi Wiebe, director of communications at Freedom International School says.

Before the feast starts, participants will have the opportunity to get an inside look at the school. “There’s time for tours, so you can see our whole facility, see where students are learning and what they’re doing.”

Each year, the feast features a different culinary theme. Wiebe is excited for the food of 2025. “This one is a culinary journey to Afghanistan featuring chicken korma, Persian steamed rice and Afghan salad. We have Hutterite colonies that partner with our school. So we also have some familiar favourites. If your palate isn’t feeling very adventurous, there’s something for everyone. And then we have the Hutterite desserts, buns and stuff that’s donated as well.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/HdlkPXdJ3CY

Along with tours and a delicious meal, participants will hear from supporters of Freedom International School, including Rev. Jinsil Park from Westwood Presbyterian Church. “They have been longtime supporters of Freedom. He will be coming to speak about his relationship with Freedom and why he believes Freedom is a very important place for newcomers and former refugee youth to come and learn, grow, and build community,” Onyeka Okoro, development director at Freedom International School says.

Okoro says Rev. Jinsil has also been supportive of the tuition bursary, which was recently launched. “Cindy and I had made a church visit to Westwood to speak about the impact of the tuition bursary and what that’s done for our students. To date, 12 families have benefited from the tuition bursary, and Westwood is also supporting 4 students this current school year. So that’s really amazing.”

Freedom International School is an accredited high school that offers specialized trauma-informed education to newcomer and former refugee youth. “Particularly those who are two or more academic levels behind their peers of the same age. So students are coming through disrupted education. Some have no formal education and have never been in a school setting before. So everything we do is to meet those students where they are, give them dignity of learning at their own pace and be seen for all that they’ve learned and all that they’ve been through and experienced so far,” Wiebe said. 

At the end of the night, Okoro says they hope to raise $10,000 for the school so even more students can enroll. “We currently have 64 students, which is the highest number we’ve had to date. So we’re really excited about that. The funds raised at our Freedom Feast would go to supporting our students and also developing and providing more teaching and educational resources so we can welcome more students.”

Currently, Freedom International School is at maximum capacity. “We do have families and students who are still interested in coming to Freedom and are waiting to join. So the proceeds of Freedom Feast would help us expand so we can welcome more students in the future,” Okoro says.

For those interested in supporting Freedom International School who are unable to attend Freedom Feast, more information can be found on their website. 

Freedom Feast is in the basement of Mission Baptist Church, 771 Sargent Avenue, on Sat. Nov. 22 with school tours beginning at 5:30 p.m. before the dinner at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.