Helping Themselves

Written by David Smiedt
Photography by Wilk + Lund and Michael Fountoulakis

Source: Australian Good Taste Magazine, December 2004

Celebrity UK chef Jamie Oliver isn't the only one helping the unemployed carve out a career in the kitchen. A number of Aussie initiatives are also using food to boost the job prospects of those on the breadline.

When Jamie Oliver announced that he was going to sink a sizeable chunk of his fortune into opening a restaurant in London's East End, it seemed like a logical (and profitable) way to capitalise on his already sky-high profile. However, when he added that he would be staffing the kitchen with 15 unemployed young people who didn't know their coulis from their Moulis, many people thought he was a few "sarnies" short of a picnic.

Although only 10 trainees remained when the much-awaited restaurant, Fifteen, finally opened its doors, Jamie earned plenty of brownie points for the initiative. But as remarkable as the endeavour was, it was by no means unique - several Australian projects have also taken the maxim of feeding the hungry one step further by equipping those in need with the skills to find employment in the catering hospitality industry,

Along with providing clothing and shelter, feeding those in need has long been a key component of charity programs. However, recently a number of organisations have looked to food to provide a deeper level of sustenance by embracing the philosophy "give a man a fish, you have fed him for today - teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime". Oly in this case, participants don't so much catch the fish as learn to sauté them!

One of those who has benefited from this trend is Jonathan Hulks, a 20-year-old from Campbelltown, NSW, who battles the traffic for an hour each way to get to his job as a porter at Sydney's plush Observatory Hotel. After leaving school in year 10 and drifting between a number of jobs, he steered towards a course called Recipe For Success, which has turned his interest in food and hospitality into a career.

Provided by Youth Matters (a not-for-profit organisation supporting young people at risk, an initiative of Marist Youth Care), Recipe For Success aims to equip participants with hospitality and cooking skills that will help them break the cycle of unemployment and the poverty that frequently follows it.

Getting a job is hard for any young person, but he can be especially grim for a teenager who has dropped out of school, is from a turbulent background, or both. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in NSW 31 per cent of males drop out of school before year 12. Lacking the necessary qualifications, they're often overlooked for positions in favour of other job applicants. Over time, the repeated lack of success erodes their confidence, motivation and self-esteem.

Recipe For Success aims to pick up the pieces though a combination of one-on-one counseling (on subjects such as how to handle job interviews or self-esteem issues) and a syllabus formulated to equip participants with the practical skills that will secure them a job.

"After graduation they actually appear physically different: they walk taller, hold their heads higher ..."

Working in conjunction with Sydney's Observatory Hotel, the Australian Hotels Association and Hostec (a company that trains and recruits for the hospitality industry), Recipe For Success is an intense 12-week program with a high attrition rate. Of the 20 students who embarked on the second phase of this year's inaugural program, only six members have made it through to the final stage. However, all of these people have found full-time work and most of the remainder have secured casual employment because of the skills they learnt during the course.

"The biggest issues facing youth today are disempowerment, fear, lack of identity and feeling that they are not going to achieve anything in life," says Marist Youth Care's executive director, Graham Jackson. "By providing tangible proof of achievement, Recipe For Success instills a sense of pride and motivation that forms the basis for future success. After he graduation they actually appear physically different: they walk taller, hold their heads higher and believe they are not the failures that people have frequently told they are."

Jonathan believes one of the strengths of Recipe For Success is that his teachers were working in the hospitality industry and could provide real-world skills which could be applied during interviews and over the course of a shift.

"It's not like some guy who'd been stuck in a TAFE for the last 20 years was telling you to get your act together," says Jonathan, who has also spent time behind the grill at the Picton Wool Shed and the Hog's Breath Cafe in Sydney since completing the course. "The program not only taught me things like a short CV is often more impressive than a long one, it also followed through the training with links to potential employers. What you put in is what you get out."

So, why is catering and hospitality so well suited to these programs? Possibly because, unlike other fields of work that require years of tuition, the qualifications for entry-level positions in restaurants and cafes can be attained in months, and significantly boost employment prospects and self-esteem.

Working out of a commercial kitchen in the Sydney suburb of Rozelle, Jeff Gambin's motivation is just as altruistic, but his philosophy is simple. "For me, it's all about fun," he says, "If you create an atmosphere that people are naturally drawn to, then the education process will follow."

Through the charity, Just Enough Faith, Jeff and his wife Alina have been feeding Sydney's homeless for more than a decade. Gregarious and jocular, there's only one thing that makes Jeff bristle: calling his operation a "soup kitchen".

"I refuse to believe that just because you're living on the streets, you should be given inferior food," he says, "Every day we serve a choice of dishes such as penne with three cheese and wine sauce, baked trevally, chicken with ginger and cranberry, and various curries."

The 350 kilograms of food that Just Enough Faith serves up daily is prepared by a qualified sous chef with the help of a small contingent of volunteers and a growing number of homeless people who are working as apprentices in the kitchen. Jeff is also currently schooling a wave of baristas as well as reviving the art of a perfect latte," he chuckles. "It's not for everybody and I can usually sort out those who are genuinely interested in food from those who are not by getting them to peel 40 kilos of potatoes.

"The people who do persevere with the training get to part of a team in which they have responsibilities. We assume they will perform, which gives them back the dignity that life on the streets can remove. Also, the sheer act of feeding someone in need can be incredibly spiritually rewarding. For those who have been on the receiving end of handouts for years, the act of giving can be a real revelation and they grow as people. And while we're on the subject I should point out that the people I've had through the kitchen have taught me just as much as I've taught them.

"For those who have been on the receiving end of handouts for years, the act of giving can be a real revelation and they grow as people."

Jimmy Pham is also familiar with the phenomenon of how a small investment in an individual can reap enormous dividends. Born in Vietnam, he migrated to Australia at the age of eight and 16 years later, in 1996, he found himself on a reconnaissance trip for a tourism wholesaler.

"On the streets, I met four homeless children who worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week, carrying baskets of coconuts that weighed twice as much as their body weight," he says. "And these were the luckier of the 25,000 'dust of life' kids who roam the city. I was shocked at how dirty they were, how obviously ill they appeared and the fact that they were covered in ulcers.

Jimmy spent the next fortnight feeding 60 street children, arranging basic medications for them and ensuring they had access to showers. It was at that point that he resolved to leave the tourism industry and return to Vietnam in order to help these forgotten kids. The result is KOTO, a Hanoi restaurant that provides street kids with employment and training in the hospitality industry.

KOTO (an acronym of Know One Teach One) has trained more than 100 students to be chefs, bartenders or service staff, and boasts a 100 per cent employment rate for graduates. Many have found work in the city's international hotel chains and top restaurants, but a steady pay packet is just one of the benefits. "Most importantly KOTO empowers them by delivering a sense of ownership, pride and belonging, none of which many have ever felt before," Jimmy says.

The 18-month program - which Jimmy is planning to institute in central Vietnam, Cambodia and eventually Australia - has three components. The first is vocational training in the form of kitchen or front-of-house skills in a classroom. "the second is language training so that the kids can communicate effectively in Vietnamese and English in the kitchen," says Jimmy. "There's none of that 'John leaves on a train for London at three o'clock nonsense."

This schooling is backed by practical experience in a restaurant, and lessons about contraception, HIV and hygiene. "Things that many Australian kids are fortunate enough to be taught about at home or at school," he adds.

Students are also given a training wage to help set them on the path to independence, medical check-ups and, in some cases, provided with housing.

Although he is justifiably proud of his students' success, Jimmy says his greatest accomplishment is "To see someone I have helped helps someone who reminds them of the way they used to be. That is the essence of the KOTO philosophy - if you know one, you should teach one."

Want to help?

• Youth Matters will embark on its second Recipe For Success program in April 2005. To find out how to enrol or to offer a donation towards the program, contact Marist Youth Care, tel (02) 9671 7688.
   
• Donations to Just Enough Faith are tax deductible. The charity also welcomes donations of food and equipment, and is always looking for new volunteers. For more information, visit www.justenoughfaith.org or tel (02) 9818 8988.
   
• KOTO is an initiative of Street Voices - an Australian charity that supports street children and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam. Donations are welcome (and tax deductible), and you can sponsor a trainee or a cooking class at the Hanoi Restaurant. For information, visit www.streetvoices.com.au.
   

Back to Articles