I had been trying to get some of our youth to shop in Chinatown or Sunrise Market, but they considered the walk there too far. They preferred to get take out from somewhere close by and if they felt like cooking they would shop at the corner store or at Nesters Market which is about two blocks away.
But persistence paid off when John finally agreed to go with me to Sunrise Market. Before we left, John said that he only had about $17. I told him not to worry. We’ll see what we can get.
When we got to the market, John looked lost. There were so many vegetables he had not seen before. I explained to him what most vegetables were and that most of them were used in Chinese cooking. We had a look at some of the items which he was more familiar with. He took a bag of baby carrots which he said was cheaper than the ones at the regular grocery chains. He also picked out some broccoli. He wanted rice too so I helped him pick out a bag. He also bought about 1 kilogram of ground beef.
At the cashier, he was nervous not knowing what the total will be. He was worried that he didn’t have enough money. The cashier then informed him that the total was $12.25. It was priceless to see his facial expression change from nervousness to surprise. He immediately turned to me mouthing his words to me “It’s so cheap!” He gladly parted with his money.
While walking back to ROP, he kept expressing how shocked he was & that needless to say, he’s going to return to do his grocery shopping at Sunrise Market. He said “With this purchase, I could eat it for 3 meals at least!”
Shared by a ROP Youth Worker
