Conyngham's Coffee Shop

I was completely bowled over by my Coffee Crawl experience last Thursday.  So much so that I have been at a loss for even how to start this posting.

The Crawlers met Thursday at Conyngham's Coffee Shop located at the Ray Mhlaba Training Centre on Conyngham St. in Glendinningvale.  Let me start with some background on the shop. 

Conyngham's Coffee Shop is a result of the partnership between two organizations, the Ray Mhlaba Training Centre and Umzi Wethu Training Academy for Vulnerable Youth, an iniative of Wilderness Foundation South Africa.  The mission statements of each organization are as follows: Ray Mhlaba Training Centre- "The vision of the Training Centre is to contribute towards the alleviation of poverty, and job creation in the Nelson Mandela Metropole by offering fulltime training to the unemployed in the community."  Umzi Wethu- "The goal of Umzi Wethu is to fulfil the employability potential of resilient motivated youth displaced by HIV/AIDS and poverty by using the power of the wilderness, promoting personal wellness in a nurturing home context, providing credible training, and securing sustainable job placements in hospitality and eco-tourism establishments - while extending the program's social outreach to others."



Meet the Baristas
Vuyiseka and Luthando

In this, the sixth year of the partnership program, there are presently sixteen students in residence who are being trained in hospitality, hairdressing, woodworking, needlework, housekeeping, and early childhood development.  Funding is provided by individual and corporate donations along with the proceeds from the sale of woodwork and needlework items, the coffee shop, and the rental of the  200 person capacity conference/event center.  The goal of the students, upon completion of the year-long program, is placement in secure, well-paying hospitality and eco-tourism jobs at rural game lodges and urban hospitality establishments.  The first five years of the program has seen over 85% of the students successfully placed.




This Week's Crawlers
Les, Leanne, Keith, Beth, Nomusa, Stella, Tolla, Maureen, Beryl, June, Annette, Fran



As this week's Crawlers, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Fran and Keith de Beer, June Nash, Leanne Waller, Annette Tyropolis, Tolla and Maureen Kotze, Beth Vieira, Les Baldwin, and Nomusa Nkomo, entered Conyngham's Coffee Shop, we were greeted by two of this year's hospitality trainees, Luthando and Vuyiseka, and shop manager, Claudette van der Merwe.  The decor of the shop is classic, with beautiful wood furnishings along with African animal prints adorning the walls.  Claudette told us that the first year woodworking students made the tables and chairs for the shop.  The aroma of  fresh Masterton's special blend coffee and the display of baked goods completed the perfect coffee shop scene.

Fran admiring a table runner in the Needlework shop



Day students





As for the service and coffee.... incredible!.... personable and talented waitrons/baristas and excellent Americanos and cappuccinos all around.  No-Food-On-The-Crawl rule-breaker, Leanne said the food was excellent as well!  We were all thoroughly impressed.

After a few relaxing hours of coffee and conversation, Paul Longe, Academy manager of Umzi Wethu, took a number of us on a tour of the facilities.  What an amazing place!  The energy and optimism is palpable!  At one point in the tour we dropped in on a group of day students taking part in a 10-day employment class/seminar.  We concluded the tour back at the coffee shop where there continued to be a steady stream of patrons coming in for breafast/lunch/coffee.  The shop is open Monday-Friday, 8-4 and for special functions off-hours by request.

Mee the Manager and Barista
Claudette and Vuyiseka

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Conyngham's is Number One on my list of all the coffee shops we've visited on the Crawl.  Tremendous effort resulting in excellence from the staffs and students/ trainees of Ray Mhlaba Training Centre and Umzi Wethu.

~Thank you to Claudette, Luthando, and Vuyiseka - your coffee shop is awesome!!!!!
~Thank you to Paul Longe for the tour and the info!

~Happy Thanksgiving to all in the U.S.A.
~A special Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends
~Good luck in the Turkey Trot to Jeff, Liz, Elaine, and Roger

Until next week,

Ellen

For more info:  Google - Ray Mhlaba Training Centre
                       web-  http://www.umziwethu.org/

"Understand Your Place in the World"