Kitchens Supply and Progress: Yaama Dhiyaan’s Culinary School of Hope

Yaama Dhiyaan Hospitality Training Centre

Kitchens supply plays an important role in Yaama Dhiyaan, a cooking and hospitality school that caters to indigenous young people in Australia. The school was created for the purpose to teach the young aborigines to learn the tricks and expertise of professional culinary arts. It is now making a splash in the culinary scene and said to be making the lives of the aboriginal youth much more insightful.

Yaama Dhiyaan’s founder, Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo is also a native Australian herself. She is actually an elder and she runs the school with passion and heart. She considers that her school’s custom made kitchens are the beacon of hope for her pupils and will guide them in their dreams of becoming professional baristas, chefs, cooks, and culinary experts.

Born in a Gamillera tribe, Aunty Beryl grew up on a reservation 500 miles from Sydney. She knows the discrimination and prejudice her people have endured over the decades. She wanted to provide the aboriginal youth an opportunity to give them a better life. Armed with kitchens supply, she finally started Yaama Dhiyaan to achieve this.

The school’s name can be translated from the Yuwaalaraay language, Yaama means “hello” and Dhiyaan means “friends." “So it's 'Hello family and friends' when you come here," Aunty Beryl says and that is what the school stands for among its students. The custom made kitchens four corners feel home to it pupils and instructors. The school takes 20 students per session for an eight-week cooking and hospitality training.

Aside from cooking, the pupils of the school also learn the skills to make cappuccinos and other caffeinated drinks. Interestingly enough, aboriginals are not coffee enthusiasts but Aunty Beryl believes that it is important for the youth to know this skill. They also learn the importance of the various kitchens supply and the techniques they’ll need to create delicious dishes. According to Dani Hore, who manages the Aboriginal Employment Program, the school’s aboriginal instructors and teachers are the perfect role models for the kids.

Hore further elaborated that these young adults who enter the school know that they are being taught vocational skills. However, they are also being educated about self-respect and life lessons which make the whole course not only about cooking, but also a self-transformation course for its students. They are not only given the knowledge to handle ingredients and kitchens supply, but how they can handle life, as well.

Learn more about the author: Sam Michael