Vocational catering training class for people with disabilities concludes, benefiting residents of Jiasian, Qishan and other areas

The "Mixed Beverage and Catering Service Class" run by the Kaohsiung Bo'ai Vocational Training Center and commissioned to the "Kaohsiung Ark Employment Service Association" had trainees from the Jiasian and Qishan areas, who came and went from morning to night every day and spent three months in vocational training at Ark, acquiring skills such as brewing coffee, making tea drinks, and baking egg yolk pastries and other small cookies. On the day after the training concluded, three trainees were immediately hired by employers and went to work, while the rest of the classmates will gradually enter the job market.

Xiao Gu (pseudonym), a person with intellectual disability who grew up at the Liugui Children's Home, lost his parents early and can only live alone; when he has no job, he can only rely on the government's meager subsidy and live frugally. After graduating from vocational high school, he had sought work through the assistance of social welfare organizations, but the process never resulted in successful employment because of his work performance and interpersonal problems with colleagues. Yet Xiao Gu must work in order to keep living, because as someone living alone, he has no one to support him.

Lin Ting-wei, director of the Ark Employment Service Department, said: "When Xiao Gu first came to register, he seemed thin and frail, spoke very softly when talking, and always kept his head down. But during the training process, his changes were visible, from being introverted and passive at the start, afraid of hands-on drills, to later actively and proactively seeking opportunities for hands-on learning and actively demonstrating his motivation for employment, and in the end he became the first trainee in the vocational training class to successfully find employment immediately after training." At the interview, Xiao Gu said: "I want to work and earn money to support myself." The supervisor also sensed Xiao Gu's motivation to find work and decided to hire him.

On the day of the graduation ceremony, Xiao Gu gave a thank-you speech on stage on behalf of all the trainees in the class. With a very shy expression, he thanked all the teachers for their instruction, and was also very happy to become the first trainee hired by an enterprise. He thanked many people for their help, which gave him the chance to work hard and keep living. Xiao Gu said: "Thank you all for your help. I will work even harder. Tomorrow I am going to work at the food court of a department store!"

The Ark Employment Service Association is dedicated to vocational training and employment services for people with disabilities. In terms of workplace development, it actively recommends the strengths of people with disabilities to employers who have never hired people with disabilities before. For example, one department store where Xiao Gu works had never hired a person with intellectual disability, and the famous Danggui Duck restaurant where another trainee is about to start work is also hiring a person with disability for the first time. Every time a door is opened, it provides every fragile life with a chance to turn things around.

Hsu Kun-fa, director of the Kaohsiung City Labor Bureau's Bo'ai Vocational Training Center, said: "The Bo'ai Training Center offers courses every year in kitchen assistant work, car detailing, catering and food, digital photography, clerical work, baking, art and design, and others, actively helping friends with disabilities enter the workplace. In fact, many friends with disabilities need only an opportunity to let them develop their potential, express themselves, and use their own two hands to hold up a sky of their own." Friends with disabilities who need assistance can call the Bo'ai Training Center at 07-3214033 or the Ark Employment Service Association at 07-3753073.