Early in November 2014, we featured a story on a group of teenagers, titled “Deaf students shine at The Mail Exchange Hotel.” It described AHA (Vic)’s experience of being invited to a specially designed two-course restaurant quality lunch, prepared by the students of the Victorian College for the Deaf, under the leadership of then Head Chef Graeme Krause. Eight years on, our team visited the hotel to check-in and find out how the project has benefited them.
The Mail Exchange has been a pioneer is supporting visually and hearing-impaired individuals for many years. Venue Manager Nici Nicholson, along with Graeme Krause, had made a commitment to provide employment pathways to a group of kids from the Victorian College for the Deaf and introduce them to the workplace, opportunities they would normally struggle to find. The commitment was to support, guide, train, learn and co-exist in a kitchen environment that has its own challenges on a good day.
In 2019, Wayne Mountford was appointed Head Chef and as Operations Manager Michael Robertson claims, “Wayne was the perfect fit to continue the legacy of Nici and Graeme. Chef Mountford understood that accepting this role also meant he was taking on the responsibility of training two wonderful kids in their journey to becoming apprentice chefs, Dylan Lulic and Emad Seyam.”
Fastrack to 2022, Nici couldn’t be prouder. Chef Mountford and his dedicated team managed to get Dylan over the line as a qualified Chef and Emad is due to finish his qualification by the year’s end. Michael said, “It’s inspiring to see the team commit to these kids and watch them grow into young men, achieving more than just the status as qualified chefs, but loved members of their work family and friends for life.”
Nici, who describes Emad as a shy teenager who started his journey as kitchen hand at the hotel, said, “Emad was further restricted by his inability to read, write or understand the English language. The support of organisations like Sign for Work, The Victorian College for the Deaf, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and Holmesglen Institute has been incredibly valuable in Emad’s development as an individual.” It is with great pride, that Nici describes Emad as one of the most inspiring individuals she has seen go through the apprenticeship program. She calls him a quick learner who improvises, holds immense respect for his colleagues and possesses a great sense of humour.
While the kitchen prepared for their Wednesday lunch service, we caught up with Emad to learn more about his journey and challenges he faced along the way. The interview was conducted with the help of a sign interpreter using Australian Sign Language (Auslan), to ensure that the communication was seamless. We asked Emad what inspired his passion for cooking, to which he said, “When I was working as kitchen hand, I would observe the chefs preparing dishes like Chicken Parmigiana, which is my absolute favourite. They would set it up no nicely, the chips were always perfectly placed and the pastas were beautifully plated. That really drew me into cooking. I applied for TAFE and too this challenge up using the support from Sign for Work and the National Insurance Disability Scheme (NDIS). I knew they would be the ones helping me secure a role like this, when I felt ready.”
Emad’s love for food and his dedication to becoming a chef has not come without its challenges. As a newly employed apprentice, he said the biggest challenge was learning how to communicate with new staff that were being hired. “Because I am one hundred per cent deaf, I was learning to communicate in Auslan with my trainers and colleagues, and not everyone is trained in sign language. But over time, I’ve been able to teach our Head Chef Wayne how to go slowly and explain to him in Auslan what the alphabets are. Gradually, he learned to communicate in sign and got more fluid with the alphabet. I’ve been able to teach him by miming and pointing at objects, like a water bottle sitting on the table. I would usually point at it and show him what the sign for that object is, but it doesn’t end there. I try to ask him to repeat the sign back to me, and that’s how we practice, we go in small steps.”
For Nici, finding new recruits to work alongside Dylan and Emad was a prerequisite to accepting new employees as part of the kitchen team, and it was fair to say some candidates headed for the hills and were not open to dealing with this unique environment. Operations Manager Michael said, “the respect I have for Chef Mountford and his team in nurturing Dylan and Emad through their journey is something I don’t take for granted, and they deserve all the credit for it. We all know what a high-pressure workplace a kitchen can be, particularly in those peak periods.” Chef Mountford and his team not only deliver exceptional results and quality in food, but he has also managed to create the most well-coordinated team that Nici has witnessed in all her years of managing hotels.
Wayne Mountford dropped in to the venue on his day off to sit down and chat with the team. “I remember when I first started working with Emad, after a couple of months I realised I hadn’t even asked him how his day was. We were so pre-occupied in learning how we communicate with each other, and I thought that needed to change. I wanted to learn the language by asking about his life, talking about our days, making jokes. Well now, he makes a lot of jokes about me, and the guys at the kitchen. That’s how you create any environment fun, and that’s when they look forward to coming into work every day.” But as Michael says, on most days there is little to no room for error in a busy kitchen like theirs. Describing his approach to Emad’s development, Chef Wayne said, “I said to Emad a few months ago, that what you’re about to start learning isn’t working with me anymore. It’s working in five- or ten-years’ time, when you’re not working with me anymore. It’s the rest of your future, and that’s what we’re trying to put in place for him.”
Both Nici and Wayne strongly believe in Emad’s ability of becoming Head Chef one day, and their efforts in hiring individuals with disabilities does not end here. They are encouraging business operators to take more chances and open their eyes, void of judgement with anyone who is open to work. Registered organisations like Sign for Work can help individuals address barriers that make it difficult to find the right job, and Emad’s journey is an example of how the process can be managed efficiently. As Michael points out in jest, “As for Emad, we are so excited to see where the future takes him but there is nothing is more rewarding than seeing him as part of a team that embrace each other with laughs, banter and a little bit of sign language.”
Read the full story featured by SBS News here.