Don Bosco-Chefs Guild of Lanka

Hospitality and Catering Institution:

They always seem as if involved in one of the most glamorous job enclosed within five star surroundings. But these men with golden hearts do not only see their proffession as an act that can feed the rich elite alone.

After the devastating tsunami The Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka set upon to feed the many that becam homeless

 overnight and even further their charitable act taking on the responsibility of training the youth to join the hospitality trail. Prasad Abu Bakr finds out more about this meritorious act by one of Sri Lankas most notable Associations which has opened many doors for many of these tsunami effected youth.

Established in 1988 the Chefs Guild of Lanka is spreading its membership to almost 150 hotels, leading catering institutions and restaurants.

Since then the Guild has contributed immensely towards the upliftment and development of the trade by way of organising various training programs, seminars, cookery workshops, culinary competitions, social and sports events etc.

Many of the chefs have been sent for overseas cross exposure training programs and WACS conferences to USA, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Mauritius, Dubai, Israel, Netherlands, Germany and Norway.

After the Tsunami the Chefs Guild of Lanka was actively involved in setting up kitchens in the coastal areas of Balapitiya, and Hambantota and supplying hot cooked food to all surrounding tsunami refugee camps in the area.

This was the need at the hour since most of the victims did not have any cooking utensils left. The Chefs Guild of Lanka provided between 5,000 to 10,000 cooked meals per day and the members personally cooked and served them.

At the World Congress held in Auckland in 2006 the Chefs Guild Of Lanka received the inaugural Honorary President Humanitarian Award in connection with the Tsunami Cooking Camps conducted by the Chefs Guild Lanka after the disaster.

During the time of feeding these refugees members of the Guild identified that there were many youth who were affected by the Tsunami between the ages of sixteen to twenty four. Most of them had lost their parents, either one parent or property.

The Chefs Guild of Lanka made a firm commitment to try and find a way of settling these youth in training them to take to cookery and eventually to be absorbed into the industry.

Hungama located between Matara and Ambalangoda in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka is a traditionally

 Buddhist village where the majority of people earn their living through fishing. While their fathers were successful Fishermen the younger generation had other interests that didn't compel them to take to fishing as a profession.

Though most of the youth had completed the Ordinary Level and Advanced Level Examination the prospect of finding some sort of employment in the hospitality industry was there.

The Hotel School was launched on the 19th of July initially taking off with a three-month English program and thereafter a complete cookery training program for six months, fully funded by the Chefs Guild of Lanka.

The program commenced by taking them on a tour to two five star coastal hotels and showing them the operation of a kitchen and introducing them to the chefs of the region at a launch organised by the Chefs Guild of Lanka.

Now considered one of the most exciting projects in the hospitality industry that is being implemented in Sri Lanka is the Chefs Guild Tsunami Training project which is to train youth living in tsunami affected areas in the field of cookery and Culinary Art which would help them to eventually become culinary assistants and chefs. The beneficiaries, who are selected for the program, are fully funded by the Chefs Guild of Lanka.

The main reason to choose the area Gurupokuna, Hungama was because they were fortunate to be granted the land to run the project by Don Bosco, a Catholid NGO working in Sri Lanka.

The land was originally owned by an individual who was in the process of building cabana style bungalows to run a tourist project when the Tsunami washed away some of the structures. The owner then left the country leaving the land in the care of Don Bosco.

The small tourist resort consisting of eight cabanas on the beach was in a very bad state having being a victim of the Tsunami and there was the need to construct an area for the classroom so that the guild can commence the program.

The Guild was considering new proposals for developing these projects. There was a brilliant proposal that they should tie up with the major tourist hotels in the South for tourists to have a one day cooking experience with the students who are being trained, so that they would interact with the tourists and teach them cooking and dine with them at the end, learning and sharing the Sri Lankan experience.

These children are from the surrounding villagers and they could perhaps invite them to their homes to see a typical village kitchen. This way the project could charge a fee and earn money towards the continuation of the project. The Chefs Guild of Lanka up to date has been funding construction of classrooms, kitchens etc., giving it priority to enable us to professionally conduct the program.

A donation of US$ 10,000 was pledged at the World Association of Chefs Societies in New Zealand. However, we received US $ 7,500 from Mr. Bill Gallagher and the South African Chefs Association, which has being utilised towards this program.

They need to finish the classrooms and equip the entire kitchen providing work stations and utensils and would appreciate any form of donation even by way of used equipment, furniture, utensils etc., that would speed up the success of this school.