‘Picha Superhero’ Starter Pack 

by Kew Li Wen

WARNING:
This post is strictly to be read by those who has a strong heart and clear mind, and if you still insist to continue and read through the post, the Picha team will not be held accountable for any uneasy feelings caused. Read at your own risk.

1. Battery 

In Picha, you need to ensure that you are EVEREADY, for every situation that will be thrown at you. In Picha, you will engage in the both the office work and catering to corporates or events. BE ALERT - from the words you say (as we are working closely with the refugee families) to the catering stuff you need to bring. Sometimes, during weekend (in a more accurate way to address - almost every weekend), Picha will either have orders or have Picha Open House sessions going on. This means that you might not have private time or me-time (according to my beautiful bosses) during the weekend (which makes you want to cry at times). Make sure you are not just a normal EVEREADY battery, but a rechargeable battery. Of course, it must come with the charger. It is utmost important that, you need to organize your time super well (no worries, you will slowly learn how in Picha) and not be burnt out by the busy routine. Remember to pick up all those beautiful little things (insanely awesome people, amazingly delicious free meals) along this journey for you to recharge whenever you are feeling low.

Picha’s girl tips: Get involved in the activities and events, and do come with a learner attitude.

2. Fast & Furious 8 (or perhaps 10)

In Picha, everything needs to be fast. Think fast, react fast, move fast. At our peak, we can have three catering going on at the same time (one catering can take half of your life, really). We need to be on time to pickup food from the Picha families’ houses (which are located 30-40 mins away from our office), move the food into the car and arrange them nicely, keep on refreshing the losing GPS signal in waze, drive 80km/h or faster (to clarify, we drive according to the speed limit), make sure you will reach the client’s hard-to-locate loading bay and wait ages for the lift to open while you are with a trolley full of food and catering stuff. By the time you are there, you need to ensure the hot cooked food is ready to be served and well presented (Now, you know why I say it will take half of your life). The fast and furious part not only stop here, but you need to clean up, settle the leftovers, pack up everything and GO BACK TO WORK.

Picha’s girl tips: Be as early as you can, it is better to be early than late (in remembrance of KL all days terrible traffic jams)

 3. Strong Heart

You gotta make sure your heart is strong enough before you step into Picha! Working in Picha, part of our work is to ensure that there are new appointments (appointment=income) so that both the Picha families and Picha Project can survive at the end of the month (Picha is a company, a lot of people thought we received funds, this is not true, we sustain by our own sales). Therefore, each one of us need to do our calls to companies. Here comes my most challenging part in my internship period- talking to strangers over the phone. When I first did my call, I remembered my heart was beating so fast, my tongue was twisted, i did not know what to say and I really wished to end the conversation immediately. But, as time goes by, this so called ‘calling-dilemma’ syndrome is getting better. Our dear motherly boss-Suzy will also give you gentle advice to improve the calls. At the end of the days, your heart will get stronger and congratulation, you are one step more like me, a tough and bold Picha superhero.

Picha’s girl tips: Be thick face because what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and stand a little taller.

 4. Intel- Core i7

Currently, Picha is just a small team, therefore almost everyone is multitasking at all times. You have to digest the tasks given to you quickly, and vomit out the things on time and creatively so that everything will run smoothly. Besides that, it is important to know more Picha stories for instance, remembering the name and ingredient of each cuisines (Basbousa, rote,and a lot more unusual names), the name of every Picha families and their journey in Malaysia, how Picha was started, the dream and vision of Picha, etc). All of this information are especially important to share with our clients as this is what makes Picha special - we are not just merely a catering company but a change maker, attempt to narrow the gaps between the Malaysians and the refugees community. Later on, when you realised every little thing you do is magic to those who are in struggle, I believe your world will never be the same anymore - you can see beyond yourself and be more engaged with the people surrounding you.

Picha’s girl tips: Last but not least, out of the hard work and ‘fit body’ shape, you will definitely take away valuable experiences in your very last day of internship. But till that time, just HANG IN THERE 😉