Migrant Women Gain Confidence and Skills in Hospitality Course

In a takeaway shop in Morley, laughter and chatter fill the air as a group of 20 women chop onions, whisk eggs and pour batter as part of a course aimed at developing their confidence in and out of the kitchen.

The women are all from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds, and the nine-week course run by the Multicultural Services Centre of WA gives them a safe space to develop friendships and connections, as well as hospitality skills that will set them up for the future.

"I had a woman who came here who had never stepped out of her house," Beyond the Kitchen teacher and coordinator Vidhu Karolia said.

"Her oldest son was 24 years old and she wanted to do something for herself.

"She thrived. She did not even speak English very well, but she managed, she did the entire course, and when she left, she wanted to look for a job.

Cakes and connection

The program is run as a social enterprise, with trainees catering events and providing meals to the community, involving clients from the aged care sector and under the National Disability Inclusion Scheme (NDIS).

Our Place Cafe, a coffee shop attached to the kitchen and frequented by nearby businesses, also gives students the chance to practice barista skills.

Ms Karolia said trainees were taught to design menus, manage budgets and understand food hygiene and allergen rules.

"We also encourage them to tell us what they would like to learn," she said.

"Today I had someone saying they want to do some cakes and croissants, so we will include that as a part of the program.

'Beautiful sisterhood'

Eritrean-Ethiopian woman Sabah Suleiman was among the first to complete the course.

"It just boosted my confidence in the kitchen and towards the different foods that I never tasted before," she said.

"I didn't have the courage before to taste anything, but now I can taste every kind of food."

Ms Suleiman, who grew up as a refugee in Sudan and moved to Australia in 1996, has since launched a spice business.

"They encouraged us actually to bring our spices and to cook a dish with it and that gave me a confidence to come and share it with everyone," she said.

Ms Suleiman said members of her cohort still keep in touch, describing the group as a "beautiful sisterhood".

Confidence boost

Fatima Khan is only two weeks into the current course but already has big plans.

"I used to do catering before, but when people would ask me 'what is your social media page?', I used to hide myself thinking I'm not confident enough to open a business," she said.

"Hopefully I build that confidence to open my catering business or a food truck, because it's my dream to do it one day."

Fellow trainee, Eritrean woman Sabrin Ramadan, also hopes to become her own boss.

"In only two weeks I'm learning a lot of things. I finish in two months, after that I open a business," she said.

Helping vulnerable women

That ambition is exactly what Multicultural Services Centre project manager Shobhana Chakrabarti is hoping to cultivate in her students.

"It gives them confidence that they can go and apply [to be a] supplier with a council or a self-catering business, which they didn't have when they started," she said.

Mrs Chakrabarti said while many participants knew a lot about cooking, they would struggle in mainstream training courses.

"We are targeting women who are a bit vulnerable … this is a step up for them, where they can come and meet other women," she said.

The project is funded by Lotterywest and will run until December 2028, supporting 160 women.