An island of learning for handicapped apprentice-cooks

"For handicapped persons, doing a job that matches their abilities is both a factor for self-realization and a source of income!In this sense, the grant from the Veolia Environnement Foundation will make a very solid contribution to improving the professional integration of the handicapped persons in the city of Braunschweig."

Christine Mesek

The principle of the organization Lebenshilfe Braunschweig (assistance for living) has been unchanged since it was inaugurated in 1969, in other words, to help handicapped persons optimize their independence. Thus every year, 120 handicapped persons begin a 27-month training program on a dozen trades in one of the Lebenshilfe Braunschweig workshops. When this training is complete, each young person is offered the opportunity to join one of the Lebenshilfe workshops.

Kitchen training is difficult in present circumstances

For several years, the nonprofit has been proposing qualifications and jobs in the kitchen trades. Lebenshilfe Braunschweig has a large kitchen-workshop for this purpose. Fifteen handicapped employees, staffed by four professional cooks, work there daily. Yet training the apprentices proves to be difficult in present circumstances, in a virtually professional kitchen that is not really designed for the new arrivals. This is why the nonprofit wants to improve the conditions for training the handicapped apprentice-cooks, by bringing the learning room as close as possible to the professional workshop, and hiring a trainer dedicated to the "new arrivals". The room also has to be fully equipped to avoid hindering the production process of the workshop. Thus the apprentice-cooks can be as close as possible to the daily life of the workshop.

The Veolia Foundation, aware of the importance of integrating handicapped persons in professional life, is contributing to the equipment of the learning island.