Story
Di-vine tuition
words Heidi HELBIG
PHOTOGRAPHY john krÜger
In the lightening shadows of Angkor Wat, the tantalising smell of freshly-baked goods wafts in the air along the banks of Siem Reap’s riverbank precinct.
Westerners and ex-pats gather at a local café, exchanging greetings as they grab an early morning coffee and muffin in the bustling tourist hot spot.
For Kerry Viney, it’s a scene as familiar to her as the streets of the Barossa, for Cambodia has been her home-away-from-home for more than a decade.
What began as an opportunity to sponsor and mentor a young man from a local village has become a highly successful café chain, employing 30 people from surrounding rural villages.
“It’s just incredible, it really is – it’s just gone way beyond what I really thought possible,” says the Nuriootpa grandmother-of-three.
When Kerry first met Dieng Dorm during a holiday to Cambodia some 13 years ago, he was a university student being sponsored by a couple running a Western guest house at Siem Reap.
“They were doing a lot of charity work, just quietly, and I was very interested in what they were doing to help very poor families – supplying food to them and trying to get sponsors for their children for extra education,” explains Kerry.
“None of that is free – even the poorest families have to pay for education and medical, take out large loans just to go to hospital that they will pay off for the rest of their lives.”
“I was in Siem Reap and rang my husband (Mick) and said, ‘I’ve had this crazy idea that I could teach Dieng how to bake. He said, ‘I think it’s bloody brilliant’, and I said, ‘really?’ Because he’s the sensible one.”
- Kerry Viney
Compelled to help, the Nuriootpa Primary School administration officer began making regular visits to Cambodia during school holidays, taking school supplies and second-hand spectacles to distribute in impoverished villages like Dieng’s.
“I loved Cambodia, I felt very at home there,” says Kerry. “The Cambodians are such caring people, especially if you are older.
“Dieng was the eldest of eight children. He was very kind and caring, and took me to his village to meet his family. We went quite often, and became good friends – he was very special to me.”
Seeing Dieng’s potential and entrepreneurial spirit, Kerry quickly realised his ticket to a brighter future was fluency in English, and sponsored a five-year course at one of Cambodia’s best English language schools, ACE.
A life-defining moment came five years ago when Kerry, a keen home baker, recognised a gap in the local market for Western café food to service Siem Reap’s busy tourism precinct and ex-pats.
“I was in Siem Reap and rang my husband (Mick) and said, I’ve had this crazy idea that I could teach Dieng how to bake. He said, ‘I think it’s bloody brilliant’, and I said, ‘really?’ Because he’s the sensible one,” Kerry says laughing.
Dieng didn’t hesitate, and so began intensive training in baking and business basics.
Kerry extended her trip an extra four months, mentoring Dieng from her apartment and growing his confidence with some “tough love”.
With Dieng carefully translating Kerry’s hand-written English recipes for muffins into Khmer, the pair spent countless hours perfecting the recipes for muffins in Kerry’s small benchtop oven, and the Muffin Man was born as a home-based business, supplying muffins to order to local cafes.
“I dedicated myself to making sure he was confident before I left. I said, ‘you just have to trust me’, because I knew this was going to work, and he did, always,” said Kerry.
Over the coming years, Kerry would make dozens of trips to Cambodia, staying up to seven months at a time to nurture Dieng’s growing business and financial independence.
Muffin Man quickly expanded to its own café premises in Siem Reap, growing its offering from muffins, cheesecake and brownies to Western-style café meals.
When COVID-19 struck, closing many local businesses, Dieng became “quite a hero”, as a team of people worked to ensure deliveries reached people’s homes.
Relocating to larger premises once again, Muffin Man has since expanded into the country’s capital, Phnom Penh.
Kerry continues to work on marketing and business development and has broadened the menu to include more than 40 options, including salads, pastries, savouries and even a “Barossa baguette”.
While the sky’s the limit for Muffin Man’s business growth, Kerry is most proud of the opportunities Dieng is offering to his local community as an equal opportunity employer.
The business is upskilling young girls, seniors, people with disability and those with no education, who can now send money home to their families.
“This is very important to him and his staff are so grateful,” says Kerry. “I get quite emotional, because I just wanted him to have a good life, and to have a good life for his family.
“He’s turned out to be an amazing businessman and he’s extremely humble, truly so humble.”
With deep ties to Dieng’s extended family, Kerry has been privileged to share many significant milestones, including his marriage to Phally and the birth of his daughter Thavery, now almost three.
“I’m called Yeay – that’s grandmother in Cambodian,” says Kerry smiling.
“I’ve become very special to Dieng’s parents as well, because I’m this angel who has come into their lives and is helping their children.
“Dieng is like a son to me. I have three of my own, and he is definitely my fourth.
“At this stage in my life, what a great life I’ve got – it’s very full.”
