A Syrian chef with a ladle full of perseverance

Adel has a passion for food and a dream to bring a deeper cultural understanding to our world through the blending of cuisines. He and his wife Sara are set to follow that dream to Horsham, regional Victoria.

When life throws us an unexpected event it is natural to feel stressed. When the event has the potential to impact the security of our finances and health, we feel even more vulnerable. As people, we thrive on predictability and the certainty of planning and decision making based on our previous experiences.

Refugees have been forced to respond to unexpected crises of the most difficult kind. They often need to make decisions swiftly and based purely around concerns of physical safety. Leaving their homes, their countries, the security of an income and wrap around support networks can often be the only option available.

For a person in this situation to survive such adversity they need to acquire skills to recover from upheaval and change. They may not be able to avoid this uncertainty for years and to cope these individuals and families build self resilience. They will nurture and adapt what they know, learn new skills if necessary, look after each other and form a community. They learn not to dwell on what they can’t change.

Life in Beirut for Adel and Sara

I have recently had the pleasure of chatting online with Adel and his wife Sara. They each come from small Syrian villages, treasured for their architectural histories and biblical roots. Yet, they are now refugees in Lebanon and are residing in a tiny apartment near the Port in Beirut. Their response to my enquiry around the devastating explosion in the city in August was to share a story of their own windows shattering and doors rattling with the impact. But, Adel assured me, they weren’t frightened, because as he explained “we are used to this sort of noise.”

Adel left Syria after armed men entered his restaurant and randomly gunned down the clientele and left the place in ruins. Conflict and terrorism had become a daily endurance and the newly married couple knew they couldn’t happily start a family amongst such deadly conflict. Adel would be likely forced into conscription and sacrificed on the front lines anyway. A young, able bodied Christian man is an ideal recruit for the government army during these times.

A passion for cuisine

Adel is conscientious and meticulous. I see this instantly in his personal appearance. In spite of his current living situation, he and Sara are beautifully presented, neat, sharp. His resume reflects his adherence to high standards too. In all his Chef work, his attention to detail has been as important as his inventiveness in the kitchen.

Adel’s youth sounds familiar. As for many teen boys, school didn’t excite him, but his work at a local restaurant opened his eyes to a potential passion.

He was drawn to the kitchen, to the sizzling oils, the dry roasting of spices and the blend of garlic with lamb which was stuffed into vegetables, succulent slices nestled into buttery smashed potatoes or wrapped into ghee fried flat bread.

Working and studying cuisine began synonymously with learning the language he saw everywhere for recipes and ingredients, English. And in this journey he dreamed of cooking around the world, to visit the places where alternate recipes and produce were found. In the typical hospitality fashion of a young Chef, Adel worked his way into cafe and restaurant kitchens, finding jobs to support his unerring desire to constantly learn more. Eventually he was able to open his own restaurant with a friend.

Sara was the younger sister of another great friend. Adel would keep his eyes lowered at this house when he visited so as not to stare too intently at his friend’s younger sister. Eventually though he found the courage to ask his friend “Would it be alright if I speak with your sister?”. I laughed to hear the unexpected response to this query. Adel was told “you had better ask her that yourself.”

The two of them share the story with engaging smiles and laughter. They talk generously of their families and those they have had to leave behind. It was not an easy choice to go. The strength required to leave everything is beyond understanding for most. An inability to control even your place to live and your meals for the day brings more stress than most of us will ever need to encounter. Adel has relentlessly sought and found sporadic work in his new city and developed different skills as needed to secure employment.

Finding Talent Beyond Boundaries

Adel connected with the local team at Talent Beyond Boundaries in Lebanon and began work on an application for positions in Australia, working through the process of creating a CV and practising his English in advance of potential interviews.

With youthful resilience and a ladle full of passion Adel still believes in his dream to bring a deeper cultural understanding to our world through the blending of cuisines. His perseverance and his persistence paid off and Adel received an offer of work overseas. He secured a chef role with Wimmera Meat Market, a small business in Horsham, regional Victoria.

With great excitement the two planned their trip. However, although their flight to Australia was booked for March 2020, the global pandemic saw planes literally grounded days before he and Sara were due to fly. For most, this would be devastating and an insurmountable disappointment. Adel, whilst hugely frustrated, looks with optimistic belief and huge Christian faith towards the future. It is just another moment and event he needs to cope with and move past. I think there is something that many could learn from such resolute conviction for good to surmount suffering.

Sara and Adel holding their Australian government issued travel cards. Their relocation has been delayed due to Covid but they are ready and waiting for approval to travel and will be quarantining in Melbourne when permission is granted.

Dreams of Australia, and meat

When they can leave Lebanon, Adel and Sara are off to Horsham in country Victoria.

He will be working for Wimmera Meat Market and is truly thrilled about the opportunity. He totally loves meat. His eyes light up when he mentions it. I wonder quietly if he is craving a beef steak or a lamb shank, as he mentions the current horrendous price of meats in Lebanon. I’m surprised to learn that Sara is a ‘veggie woman’. They both laugh as he discloses this fact, a moment of marital harmony over Adel’s fortune in keeping the meat at home for himself!

My query as to whether Adel was interested in trying kangaroo was initially misinterpreted and both he and Sara answered with delight how much they were looking forward to seeing the iconic Australian marsupial in real life.

I tried a second time with ‘but what about the meat?’

Again, they misunderstood and fervently reassured me they would never consider killing a kangaroo. In this haze of online communication confusion, I realised that this young couple, heading to the Wimmera had not yet heard that many Australian’s consume our famous hopping national treasure. There will be some culture shock on arrival but I have no doubt of their ability to adapt in their new home.

Everyday champions behind the statistics and headlines

When we think of Syria or Lebanon today it is likely with concern. The stories we read are of displaced people, failing economies, civil wars, explosions and unrest. It would be simple to package these situations together by a string of descriptors. To look at the overwhelming numbers and percentages of people living an uprooted life.

More important is to familiarise ourselves with the human stories residing within the quantitative information of the headlines. Most of us don't care about people we don’t know, nor do we necessarily take the time to try to understand their unique issues.

Adel and Sara are young and full of delicious life dreams. They have much to offer and are champions at dealing with change.

Their energy and enthusiasm, the passion and skills they bring, will add value in their new community. The recipes Adel can share, his vision for fusing cuisines and his love of people will be invaluable for the company who has employed him.

The opportunity of refugee talent placement that Talent Beyond Boundaries has given Adel and Sara should pave our future for global acceptance. Their own determination to work for freedom and safety in a new country is spectacular and following their journey will be a privilege for us all.

To learn more about Talent Beyond Boundaries and how you can hire talented refugees from abroad visit https://www.talentbeyondboundaries.org/for-employers