Youth Ambassadors
Artwork by Molly West
Think Global, Cook (And Help) Local: Meet the grass roots organisation helping young First Nations people enter the hospitality industry. Established a decade ago, Prepare Produce Provide has been providing young people with pathways into the hospitality industry. Two of its ambassadors talk about the program’s influence on their lives.
Molly West
Molly West didn’t plan on becoming an ambassador for Prepare Produce Provide (PPP), a grassroots organisation committed to assisting young people develop career pathways in the education, food and hospitality industries. She didn’t even plan on joining Djinda Ngardak, a cultural culinary program that PPP runs annually in Albany. While dropping off her sister, West was offered a last-minute invitation to join the week-long camp and the rest, as they say, is history.
“That one crazy decision to hop on a bus and hope for the best has created a beautiful butterfly affect that has exposed me to other incredible opportunities,” says West, a young Nyikina artist living in Northam on Ballardong Country. Since unintentionally joining the program, West has been passionately advocating for PPP’s work and has been encouraging other youth to follow in her footsteps. “It [Djinda Ngardak] is one of the reasons I’ve met so many Indigenous youth, elders and communities from so many countries around Australia and even the world. I love hearing everyone’s stories come together and being able to work with them on awesome and meaningful projects.”
In the PPP universe, West’s story isn’t an isolated one. Established in 2013 by a group of home economics teachers, PPP has helped connect talented students with industry professionals and prepare them for careers after study. One of the program’s real success stories is the aforementioned Djinda Ngardak, a program that provides participants with real life hospitality experience preparing for dinners and events that celebrate Indigenous ingredients and culture. (The program’s name means “coming alive under the stars” in Noongar, the native language of the south-west.) and was given to the program by Noongar Elder Dale Tilbrook. Since the program’s inception a decade ago, students have prepared large-scale dinners across Western Australia including at Government House, the Albany Entertainment Centre and as part of south-west food festival, Margaret River Gourmet Escape. In March 2023, 120 Djinda Ngardak students were involved in its biggest event yet when Crown Perth hosted the World Indigenous Tourism Summit, a five-day event exploring the connections between tourism, custodianship and Indigenous knowledge. Their contribution: spending 18 months developing the five-course gala dinner menu that was served to 700 delegates at the event. Additionally, students also built sugar pastillage centrepieces and developed non-alcoholic drinks that were served at the dinner. Like the menu, both the centrepieces and the drinks were inspired by Indigenous culture and ingredients.
“All we wanted to do with this project is for kids to believe in themselves. We want to give them experiences that will take them out of the ordinary to extraordinary.”
Rishaye Shaw
Rishaye Shaw, another PPP youth ambassador, is another of the program’s success stories. A Gooniyandi-Nyikina woman that grew up near Fitzroy Crossing, Shaw was taught about local bush foods by her family. Although she has the knowledge about these precious ingredients, Shaw doesn’t consider herself a chef. Instead, she feels like sharing stories through words is the best way for her to express herself and her culture. Hospitality, it turns out, comes in all shapes and sizes.
“I love expressing and using my voice, even though I’m quite shy,” says Shaw who MCed the World Indigenous Tourism Summit Youth Forum as well as other Djinda Ngardak events. “I love pushing outside of that comfort zone that I created for myself. Cath [MacDougall] tells us it’s [hospitality] not just about cooking. It’s about bringing us here and showing us all the different sides of hospitality. We didn’t just have to cook, we could do pretty much whatever we wanted. It was quite a big thing to see.”
Shaw’s enthusiasm for culture and food saw her – and fellow Kimberley woman Shaleeka Ozies – travel to Germany with the Australian Culinary Olympic team, making them the first Indigenous Australians to be part of the prestigious global event. Since returning to Australia, Shaw has been using her skills in a variety of ways, not least working as an advisor at Curtin University to help fellow Indigenous students achieve their study goals.
“My experience with PPP has really changed my perspective on the world,” says Shaw. “My confidence has grown and I really feel like I can do really good things with the platform that I’ve been given.”
Crown in partnership with Prepare Produce Provide a not for profit organisation who’s Djinda Ngardak culinary training programs support Indigenous youth leaders in Western Australia. Crown Perth is proud to have worked with PPP since inception in 2013 and will continue to support the program via Bilya Café, any profits generated will be donated to Prepare Produce Provide.