The German initative helping refugees start their careers

DW (English)

Every year, tens of thousands of underage refugees arrive in the EU. Many hoping to find work, training, and a future. An NGO in Bonn is helping them take their first steps toward a career.

Transcript

00:00When he was 14, Al Gassimo Kondé fled Guinea without his parents.

00:05After a journey through Spain, he arrived in Germany in 2018, without speaking a word of German.

00:11I had no idea what to do. I went to the Youth Welfare Office here in Bonn,

00:17and they told me about ASA and told me to go there.

00:21ASA stands for Ausbildung statt Abschiebung, training instead of deportation.

00:26The NGO has 14 staff and 150 volunteers who support young refugees in Bonn and the surrounding area.

00:33It's funded by private foundations.

00:36Young people come to us and start a German course.

00:41At the same time, they get advice on their residency status, and we begin career counselling right away.

00:49ASA helped Al Gassimo choose a career and arranged an apprenticeship in the food service industry,

00:55here at the Stresemann Institute and Educational Centre.

00:59They also helped secure his work permit.

01:01The management there values ASA's support, especially when it comes to dealing with bureaucracy.

01:08The biggest and first hurdle is understanding immigration requirements.

01:13That's hard for us as an employer to navigate.

01:18Many local companies know ASA and support its mission.

01:22Almost 3,000 apprenticeships in the Bonn region currently remain unfilled.

01:27We have more vacant apprenticeships in the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg region than ever before.

01:33That's why we need ASA, and the young people it supports, to help fill the skilled labour gap.

01:40At ASA, young people who will become the skilled workers of tomorrow are learning German.

01:46Like 19-year-old Kian Ganbari, who fled Iran two years ago.

01:50He spent months searching for an apprenticeship.

01:53ASA connected him with the Lux shipyard, just north of Bonn.

01:57The family-run company with 100 employees builds and maintains ships.

02:03Kian is training as a precision mechanic.

02:06I enjoy it here because the work is so varied.

02:12We don't just do one thing.

02:15One day we're turning, milling or drilling.

02:18Another day we might be welding, and sometimes we do repairs on the ships.

02:24He's learning hands-on shipbuilding and picking up the technical vocabulary along the way.

02:30His employer is pleased with his work and even gave him a room in a company apartment.

02:35Housing is often a major hurdle for refugees.

02:41If Kian does well in his training, we'll definitely keep him.

02:45We urgently need skilled workers.

02:48Kian could also go to college later.

02:51But for now, he's focusing on learning the trade.

02:56Back at the Stresemann Institute, Algassimu knows he can still count on ASA,

03:01including with personal challenges he might be facing.

03:04He's also still getting German tutoring.

03:07I'm really happy to be here, with people who support me like this.

03:16Arriving in Germany as a young refugee is hard enough.

03:20ASA and its team help make that path a little easier.

03:24mostraves are quite young.

03:25but not as a young refugee is I'm gonna die.

03:27Here you go I sat next week to the Lwa Archive 30

Category

Transcript

Recommended