For the past nine months, Olena Hryshko has spent her days waiting for a three-word text from her husband bearing the words: “I’m still alive”.
The 41-year-old Ballan resident fled her homeland of Ukraine one year ago. Her partner of 19 years stayed behind to fight on the frontline.
Along with her daughter Polina, now 17, Hryshko made for Poland before securing visas and heading for Australia.
“We woke up from the explosion,” Hryshko says. “My husband had to travel to another city every week but then there were road closures and he couldn’t get home. He would call and say, ‘Olena, you have to leave!’”
Hryshko tries to keep her eyes from welling up as she tells her family’s story – one of thousands of similar stories of people forced to flee their homes due to the conflict. The difference, for Hryshko, lies in the support she has received from family, friends and various cultural organisations through what has been a harrowing time.
Four months ago, she was able to enter the Australian workforce thanks to the social enterprise A Pot of Courage (Apoc).
Based in Ballarat, the not-for-profit cafe and catering organisation was launched three years ago to provide opportunities for women of migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Hryshko says working at the cafe has allowed her to connect with others and begin to find her feet in a new country.
“I have always loved cooking and baking, and my husband loves my baking,” she says. “It was a tradition every weekend. When everybody was home, we would go into the kitchen and bake, talk and watch television.”
This month, Apoc announced it would be closing its doors at the end of March due to a lack of funding and staff shortages.
“Very little funding is available to actually run a social enterprise in a sustainable way that stays true to the objectives and values of our initial vision,” Apoc founder and co-ordinator Shiree Pilkinton says.
“Suppliers’ costs have increased, there has been talk of increasing the rent, volunteer numbers dropped off through the pandemic, customers are not spending as much, it has become more difficult to find board members who have the time to really support and be involved in what we do, and I’m exhausted.
“Since we began, I have continued to voluntarily coordinate and promote Apoc, clocking up more than 4,000 hours of mostly voluntary hours, while being a single parent with a full-time job.”
Pilkinton says larger businesses were able to offer well above award rates and more hours, something small social enterprises simply could not compete with.
“Our training costs are high,” she says. “We are training on the job every day and this means it takes a lot longer to get tasks done.”
Manager of Ballarat East Neighbourhood House, Sarah Greenwood-Smith, joined forces with Shiree and Apoc to host the Chatty Cafe initiative, an event that offers people the chance to gather and form friendships over a good coffee.
The Neighbourhood House and Apoc also hosted a range of other community building programs including the pay-it-forward coffee and meal wall, International Women’s Day events, and events supporting international campaigns against gender-based violence.
Greenwood-Smith says Apoc has helped establish a thriving community hub and provided women with opportunities which would not have been available to them elsewhere.
“The local community has also had the wonderful experience to meet women from many different cultures, chat with them and hear their stories,” she says. “This is a really important part of building strong connections and creating a resilient community.”
Lilly Wright, who owns local Malaysian eatery Flying Chillies, is the former kitchen co-ordinator at Apoc. She says working at the cafe provided her with opportunities to develop training and leadership skills, including how to become a barista and train new staff.
“After I moved to Ballarat and Covid hit, I started again with Flying Chillies, and Apoc allowed me to connect with other people,” Wright says.
“The cafe has been a place of gathering for many communities and a safe place for all of us. It is important for all new migrants coming to Ballarat and who are looking for work and need a space that is safe, non-judgmental and kind.”
Securing long-term funding is difficult. Pilkinton says that until hospitality is seen as a career in itself, not just a stepping stone, any additional funding they did secure would simply be a Band-Aid solution and would not guarantee the future of the enterprise.
She says she’s had numerous discussions with various government bodies, but was told the type of funding required “simply did not exist”. The Ballarat Regional Multicultural Centre received $100,000 to upgrade the Barkly Street precinct, where A Pot of Courage is a tenant, in 2018, but the cafe itself has not received funding nor is there an appropriate grant program where it could apply for funds.
A Victorian government spokesperson said: “We’re supporting our diverse and vibrant multicultural communities across regional Victoria to celebrate and share their cultures and traditions through programs such as the Multicultural Infrastructure Fund”.
Pilkinton says: “I have witnessed the benefits of empowerment gained through Apoc, including the sense of belonging, an increased understanding of what we mean by gender equity, financial freedom and gaining skills they realise are then transferable – for example going on to set up their own businesses, increased civic participation, or becoming intercultural ambassadors.
“I would love to think that we could re-emerge at some point, well-funded and supported from the start.”
