- Gondwana Cañon Park/ News



		News 2004 29.10.04


		Cheese-making classes at Cañon Lodge - 29.10.04 Two years ago Gondwana's head office in Windhoek introduced a human resources division. Apart from the day-to-day personnel issues, the division is able to focus on training and education of the company's employees. This also includes interaction with people from different walks of life so as to broaden their general horizons.

		Just how enthusiastic and eager our people are to get to meet people and to experience new things firsthand became evident when the company was able to make use of the skills and expertise of an experienced cheese maker from Holland. His stay was co-ordinated through Senior Expert Services of the Netherlands and sponsored by the Royal Dutch Embassy in Windhoek.

		Dutch cheese maker Albert Abbink explains the processes behind high quality cheese.

		Albert Abbink spent three weeks at the Cañon Lodge in close proximity to the Gondwana Self Sufficiency Centre where he performed quality control checks and offered training.

		In courses ranging from one to three days Gondwana employees were able to learn everything about the secrets of successfully making a good cheese: from milking a Jersey cow over what bacteria look like under the microscope and what they do to using the correct quantities of culture to make CALO, the Cañon Lodge's own cheese. And Albert Abbink's support and expert advice were gladly accepted by all participants – chefs, kitchen assistants, profit centre managers and milkers.

		The production processes sometimes astounded the employees. For instance when dairy assistants Anna and Memory were told to put on gloves and use their hands to shape Mozzarella cheese that had been melted at 72 degrees before cooling it off in ice water. Following the training and practical application the participants' patience was seriously tested. They had to wait six weeks before they were able to taste the fruits of their hard labour. Then all varieties of cheese were tested for their palate and the chefs made pizza and Italian cheese salads for guests and employees alike.


		- For more on the training programme see: - GDC/Gondwana Concept/Training.