TRANSCRIPT
The Christmas cheer is rolling out at a wholesale bakery in Sydney. And trainee Ben – a recent arrival in Australia - is busy learning on-the-job.
“Thank you God for my life because today I'm still alive and I am here and I'm working and is happy thing.”
It’s a fresh start for Ben, who fled Afghanistan 13 years ago and later struggled to survive as a refugee in Asia.
“I lived in Indonesia, Jakarta. And that time I don't have any work because refugee there can’t work.”
Ben is now learning to make fruit mince pies for Christmas, with Samia Salhab a refugee from Syria.
“She's my leader so she teach me everything. Yeah. Because I am just working more than two months so I need to more practice.”
Despite coming from different cultural backgrounds, Ms Salhab says they communicate well.
“We don't speak same language, he's from different nationality, but we speak English. Ben, he's very good person. He try to learn, he want to work.”
Both are grateful for steady jobs at the Bread and Butter Project, a social enterprise bakery in the inner-west suburb of Marrickville. Ms Salhab says the bakery is more than just a workplace.
“Yeah, the bread and butter project, they are my second family. We receive good money, we can pay our rent, we can - I bought a car already and I can save some money sent to my family in Syria and it's very good. It's perfect for me!”
The bakery has grown steadily since co-founder Paul Allam started up in 2013. He says it now employs 40 staff producing 1.5 million products each year.
“The turnover is around $5 million. I think it's actually a little bit above that at the moment. So we put through thousands and thousands of loaves every week”
With a background in baking, Mr Allam was inspired to start the business after helping to set up a similar project with Karen refugee women in an orphanage on the Thai-Myanmar border.
“And I worked with probably 20 to 25 Karen women and we built this little bakery within the orphanage. And the last day we had all this product ready to go out and then the cafe owners came and the restaurant owners came and we signed up, I think it was eight accounts that day. It's very rare that bakers do, sort of, work abroad. We're not doctors, we're not engineers. So this was an opportunity for me to give a little bit back.”
His Sydney bakery is now among 12,000 social enterprises in Australia – and focussed on training new arrivals. Tara Anderson is CEO of leading non-profit industry body, Social Traders.
“Every year in Australia, social enterprises like the Bread and Butter project create 16 million hours of employment for people like Ben in their workforce. And across a year that's a total of 85,000 jobs that are created for people that would otherwise struggle to find them.”
So far, the bakery has put 120 new arrivals through its rigorous training scheme. CEO Eva Rabanel explains:
“There are many barriers for newly arrived refugees and we are bringing in people from all walks of life. Our program runs for three to six months. Our participants will receive training, hands-on training on how to make bread and pastry products and they'll also receive all sorts of wraparound support while they're here, such as one-on-one English tutoring. Our objective is at the end of the program to ensure they've got an ongoing permanent job offer.”
Ben dreams of one day opening his own business and says – for now - baking bread is his way to give back.
“I make bread with love and people I hope they enjoy when they eat the bread.”
But this holiday season, he feels far from loved ones in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul.
“My dream is one day me and my family, we are together and celebrate about Christmas and New Year.”
