Daily Camera (Boulder)

BUILDING SKILLS, CONFIDENCE

In Ready for American Hospitalit­y program, DU students train refugees in food safety, serving, workforce culture

- By Elizabeth Hernandez ehernandez@denverpost.com

It was showtime Thursday night for the 14 refugees hustling around an industrial kitchen inside a University of Denver banquet hall, spreading goat cheese atop crostinis, scooping ice into water glasses and perfecting the plating of a charred okra salad.

The refugees — new to the U.S. from places such as Afghanista­n, Iraq, Congo and Turkmenist­an — worked alongside their DU hospitalit­y management student mentors, who had spent the past five weeks training their newly arrived friends in food safety and U.S. workforce culture through the university’s Ready for American Hospitalit­y program.

Thursday night was the culminatio­n of their learning, a fine dining experience at DU’S Joy Burns Center that refugees and their college counterpar­ts put on for more than 120 people.

The one-of-a-kind program provides learning on a deeper level for all involved, said Cheri Young, associate professor at DU’S Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitalit­y Management. Students in her course on human capital act as mentors to the refugees.

The DU students are tasked with interviewi­ng, training and managing the refugees, who are referred to the program through the Denver-based African Community Center.

The refugees learn the basics of food safety, food preparatio­n, cooking skills and U.S. restaurant culture in an environmen­t where they’re able to practice English, forge friendship­s and get job offers post-program.

“This is my dream come true,” said Pamela Bukuru, 33, who fled Congo and came to Colorado from a refugee camp in Zambia.

In many cases, the refugees already know the true meaning of hospitalit­y, Young said.

As part of the course, the DU students visit their refugee mentees — who aren’t students at the university — in their new homes.

The DU students take public transporta­tion there to better understand the obstacles and life experience­s their mentees are going through.

Most refugees in early resettleme­nt start in humble beginnings, Young said, and her students are continuall­y awed when the mentees and their families offer up their only silverware to eat dinner or provide their only chair while choosing to stand.

“That is true hospitalit­y,” Young said. “That’s a hospitalit­y most of my DU students would never have otherwise experience­d. This program gets them out of their own heads. They can get so obsessed with their own life and a big paper they have due, but this opens up their whole world. They start learning about countries they’ve never heard of. They start caring about world politics and are invested in these people’s lives. The refugees talk about how our students are their first American friends.”

DU student Anahi Mendivil, 20, is studying hospitalit­y management to learn how to ensure workers are treated fairly, she said. Her favorite part of working with the refugees is hearing their stories on the first day and feeling invigorate­d by their resilience.

On Thursday night, she helped set the dining tables alongside her mentees before guests arrived.

“What I enjoy is making connection­s,” Mendivil said.

“We’re training them, and then we’re working alongside them and giving them encouragem­ent. For me, they are an inspiratio­n.”

Although the program — establishe­d in 2012 — feels good, it also garners results. Representa­tives from the United Nations, the U.S. State Department and Refugee Council USA recognized Ready for American Hospitalit­y as a crucial resource for resettled refugees, DU officials said.

Once they’ve completed the program, 86% of the Ready for American Hospitalit­y students over the years gained employment and 90% meet a 90-day job retention rate at that first job, according to DU.

Those first jobs out of the hospitalit­y program can be a stepping stone for bigger dreams.

 ?? ANDY CROSS — THE DENVER POST ?? Afghan refugee Shukria Mohammad pours sauce over lamb chops with help from University of Denver hospitalit­y management student Jess Bryan in the kitchen at the Joy Burns Center. The Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitalit­y Management program hosted refugees in a five-week food training course called the Ready for American Hospitalit­y program.
ANDY CROSS — THE DENVER POST Afghan refugee Shukria Mohammad pours sauce over lamb chops with help from University of Denver hospitalit­y management student Jess Bryan in the kitchen at the Joy Burns Center. The Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitalit­y Management program hosted refugees in a five-week food training course called the Ready for American Hospitalit­y program.
 ?? ?? Prepared salads are set out for a large dinner service at the Joy Burns Center on Thursday.
Prepared salads are set out for a large dinner service at the Joy Burns Center on Thursday.

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