The smell hits you first – freshly cooked rice, lentils and spinach served in ladles from steaming pots.
Dozens of families — including mothers with babies — are lining up with plates to get a portion of what is likely to be their only meal of the day.
“We are here because we are hungry,” says Chandrika Manel, mother of four.
As she kneads a ball of rice with her hands, mixing it with the lentils and spinach before feeding it to one of her children, she explains that even buying bread is a struggle.
“There are times when I [give them] Milk and rice, but we don’t cook vegetables. They’re too expensive.”
Depleted foreign exchange reserves and rising inflation have devastated Sri Lanka’s economy in recent months. And President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of exacerbating a crisis sparked by the pandemic and shrinking tourism.
But now Sri Lanka is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the BBC.
The organization noted that 70% of the country’s families have reduced their groceries since the beginning of the year, and stocks of fuel and essential medicines are also rapidly running out.
This is Ms Manel’s first visit to a community kitchen when she found her options were dwindling: “The cost of living is so high, we borrow to survive.”
The kitchen is a month old – Pastor Moses Akash started this in a church hall in Colombo after meeting a single mother who ate a jackfruit for three days.
“We’re getting people who haven’t eaten a second plate of rice in the last four months,” says Pastor Moses.
He estimates that the number of people queuing for food has increased from 50 to well over 250 a day. This is not surprising given that food prices in Sri Lanka rose by 80% in June alone.
“I see a lot of children in particular, most of them are malnourished,” he says.
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Also standing in line with her three young children is Sahna, a pregnant 34-year-old who goes by only her first name. She is due in September and worried about the future.
“My children are unhappy. They are suffering in every possible way. I can’t even afford a packet of biscuits or milk for my babies.”
Sahna’s husband, who is a laborer, earns just $10 (£8.20) a week to support the whole family.
“Our leaders live better lives. If their children live happily, why can’t my children?” she asks.
It’s supposed to get worse by the time Sahna’s child is born.
The mayor of Colombo recently said the capital would only have enough food until September.
Due to fuel and cooking gas shortages and daily power outages, families are unable to travel to buy fresh groceries or cook hot meals.
“Families can no longer buy what they used to buy. They reduce meals, they reduce nutritious foods. So we are definitely getting into a situation where malnutrition is a big problem,” said Christian Skoog, UNICEF representative in Sri Lanka.
“We are trying to avoid a humanitarian crisis. We’re not at infant deaths yet, which is good, but we urgently need support to avoid that.”
Unicef has asked for urgent financial help to treat thousands of children suffering from acute malnutrition and to provide basic health care to a million others.
The rate of acute malnutrition could rise from 13% to 20%, with the number of severely malnourished children – currently 35,000 – doubling, says Dr. Renuka Jayatissa, President of the Sri Lanka Medical Nutrition Association.
The crisis has bred a sense of solidarity, with people often relying on the kindness of strangers. But kindness and hope also become precious goods.
dr Saman Kumara, of Castle Street Hospital in Colombo, says his patients – tiny newborns – would have been at great risk without the donors’ goodwill.
He says his hospital is now “entirely dependent on donations” for essential medicines and equipment and has urged more donors to come forward as patients’ lives are at risk.
Back in the communal kitchen, Chandrika is scooping the last bite of food into her son’s mouth.
“My best days are over. But our children still have so much to do,” she says.
“I don’t know what will happen when they grow up.”
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