Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton and the Park Inn Radisson Hotel in Newlands, Cape Town, have teamed up with organisations for the deaf to offer more job opportunities in the hospitality and tourism industry. 
Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton, in alliance with the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Psychological Services and Career Development (PsyCaD), St Vincent’s School for the Deaf, and the HTA School of Culinary Art, has launched an internship training programme for deaf and hearing-impaired students. 
The hotel’s management agreed to a pilot training programme, while PsyCaD funded a sign language interpreter. St Vincent’s School for the Deaf came on board as advisers and partners, and HTA owner and South African Chef’s Association president, Stephen Billingham is providing training on the HTA’s one-year Day Release Certificate Programme in Cookery. This work-based qualification will result in a City and Guilds International certification and NQF Level 3. 
A third of all staff members at the Park Inn Radisson Hotel are deaf and, in a partnership with the Deaf Federation of Southern Africa (DEFSA), the hotel has built facilities that create special access for people with disabilities. One non-executive member of the board is deaf and DEFSA also holds shareholding in the hotel.
At the opening of the Park Inn Radission Hotel last week, Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, said: “What this does in the world of tourism and in the hospitality industry is that it raises the bar. When we talk about responsible tourism, when we talk about community participation, it challenges all other hotels around the country to do the same – to rise to the challenge.”
Minister Hanekom said SA had more than 400 000 people who used sign language and that over one million people in the country were almost deaf. He said 70% of all deaf people in SA were unemployed because of societal attitude.
Billingham said: “Currently, St Vincent’s has a cooking course, with a handful of those students expressing an interest in professional cookery as a career choice. Next year, Balalaika will take those students on as services apprentices. From the HTA side, we are gearing ourselves to take on deaf learners for the first time. We are training our staff in sign language and have made available additional classes should these be necessary.”
“As our management and various staff members become more fluent in sign language, we feel confident that there will never be a disconnect between deaf staff and hearing guests,” says Nancy Gaylard, Training Manager at Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton. “What we weren’t expecting, was the way in which our guests embraced our trial programme. The experience has humanised us, allowed us to see a bigger picture, and given guests and staff the opportunity to interact and successfully communicate with the deaf.” 
The first intake of deaf interns will begin in January 2015 at Protea Hotel Balalaika Sandton.