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Young people from across the Cape Flats are making waves in the hospitality industry.
SALT RIVER
Culinary skills for youth KAYLYNNE BANTOM KAYLYNNE.BANTOM@MEDIA24.COM
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group of 20 young people from across the Cape Flats are making waves in the hospitality industry thanks to a Salt River-based hospitality school. Cooktastic, is a non-profit organisation (NPO) that aims to empower talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with culinary training and job placement support. Mbuyi Jongqo, co-founder of Cooktastic says the training is three-fold, with four weeks work-readiness training, eight weeks of basic culinary training and four weeks in-service training. According to Jongqo their aim is to up-
skill 24 students at a time. Mbuyi says she spent five years as the programme and job placement manager at the Salesian Institute Youth Projects in Cape Town where she mentored hundreds of youth. Mbuyi says while the course costs more than R20 000 students are only required to pay R1 200. She adds that with the assistance of the Rotary Club of Australia, and other sponsors, they are able to cover the balance of students’ fees. Mbuyi says this year, fees will increase to R2 400. Mbuyi adds that 20 out of the 22 students that enrolled last year are currently doing their in-service training at various establishments. “For many of these young people, this has been a dream come true. They are now working in areas such as Sea Point, Camps Bay and Constantia.” Mbuyi says when lockdown began in
CAPE TOWN
March last year they were approached by the Rotary Club of Sea Point to start a bread project. “There was a great need in communities and the students were eager to play their part to help alleviate the hunger,” explains Mbuyi. She explains that the culinary chefs-intraining were called in to start baking ciabattas under the head chef while continuing their training. According to Mbuyi, since May last year the trainees baked 500 ciabatta breads per day which were distributed to people in need across Cape Town. She says they have baked over 30 000 loaves. Farhat Danyal, president of the Rotary Club says the aim of the partnership with Cooktastic was to assist the students as well as those who were starving due to the na-
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tionwide lockdown. Zubair Samuels (20) from Bridgetown is one of the students. He says he never thought he would enjoy cooking or baking as much as he does now. “At the beginning I just enrolled to see what it is all about. But soon I learnt so much and started loving it. I learnt so much. Everyone in the family now expects me to bake or cook something.” Samuels says he is currently doing his inservice training at Protea Hotel in Green Point. Danyal says in December last year they also paid tribute to frontline workers. “We delivered stollen bread (bread containing fruits and nuts) to medical staff at Somerset Hospital. This was to thank all their frontline workers for their excellence, dedication and sacrifice during this pandemic, especially in these trying times.”
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