For the second consecutive year, a group of young South Koreans taking part in the Gyeonggi Youth Ladder Program has been given a taste of Australian life that goes well beyond the classroom.
Fourteen young adults travelled to Sydney this year under the leadership of Professor Seohyun Bae as part of the leadership and personal development program, supported by Icheon City. Their program combines English language learning, cultural exchange, leadership development and real-world experiences in Australia.
OZiHOUSE Group again organised the students’ homestay experience, giving them the opportunity to live with Australian families, practise English in everyday situations and develop a deeper understanding of Australian life.
But one of the most memorable experiences took place in a bakery in Marrickville.
More than just a bakery
OZiHOUSE once again arranged a visit to The Bread & Butter Project, Australia’s first social enterprise bakery.
Established in 2013, the organisation was inspired by Sydney chef and baker Paul Allam’s experience teaching refugee women to bake bread on the Thai-Burmese border. Together with his Bourke Street Bakery business partner David McGuinness, Allam brought the concept back to Australia, creating a social enterprise that combines professional baking with training and employment opportunities for refugees.
The model is particularly interesting because the commercial and social sides of the business are closely connected.
The bakery produces artisan bread, pastries and other products for retail, catering and wholesale customers, with sales covering around 90 per cent of its training and operating costs. Profits are reinvested into training and employment pathways for people seeking refuge in Australia.
For the Gyeonggi Youth Ladder participants, this offered something that cannot easily be replicated in a classroom: a direct encounter with an Australian organisation using business as a vehicle for social change.
Program Manager Jessie Wang warmly welcomed the group and explained how professional bakery training, English-language support and employment opportunities can help refugees and asylum seekers build new lives in Australia.
The students responded with plenty of questions.
They wanted to know about donations, how products and other forms of support reach people in need, and the nationalities of people taking part in the program.
Jessie explained that the backgrounds of participants are often shaped by events taking place around the world, including war and other traumatic circumstances that force people to leave their homes and seek safety.
For the young visitors, it brought a human dimension to issues they might otherwise encounter only through news reports or in a classroom.
And then there were the muffins
There was, naturally, also a less serious side to the visit.
Jessie shared some of the bakery’s focaccia and muffins with the group. One participant was sufficiently impressed by the muffins to cheekily ask for the recipe.
It was a small moment, but perhaps a fitting one. Cultural exchange is not always about grand speeches or formal lessons. Sometimes it is about sitting together, sharing food and asking questions.
Taking ideas home
Experiences like the Bread & Butter Project visit demonstrate the broader value of programs such as Gyeonggi Youth Ladder.
The participants are not simply being shown Australian landmarks or attending English classes. They are being exposed to organisations, businesses and ideas that demonstrate different ways of approaching social and economic challenges.
The Bread & Butter Project is a particularly strong example. It brings together commercial enterprise, vocational skills, English-language support, employment and social impact in a single model.
For international students and young visitors, these experiences can provide a different perspective on Australia and, importantly, ideas they can potentially take home.
That is an increasingly important part of international education. The value of international programs is not simply measured by what visitors learn about Australia. It can also be measured by what they take back with them.
For OZiHOUSE Group, introducing international visitors to organisations such as The Bread & Butter Project is an important part of that exchange.
Australia has no shortage of organisations doing innovative and meaningful work. Connecting international visitors with these initiatives provides a window into a side of Australian society that they are unlikely to encounter through traditional tourism or classroom-based study.
The hope is that the young people who experience these initiatives leave with more than memories of Sydney.
Perhaps they also leave with an idea, a new perspective or the inspiration to create something themselves.
OZiHOUSE Group thanks The Bread & Butter Project and Jessie Wang for once again opening their doors to the group and for the organisation’s ongoing contribution to the Australian community.
And, if the muffins are anything to go by, the students certainly seem to have left with some very positive memories.
Daniel Yuen is Head of Operations and Growth at OZiHouse.
