It is 5 p.m. on the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville (IVe) when Ykaelo Kahsay and Mokhtar Hussaini, refugees in France, are solemnly welcomed by a delegation from the City in one of the ASPP restaurants which serves the municipal employees of Paris on a daily basis.
They are not there as customers but as cooks.
The Refugee Food association, of which they are members, joined forces with the City this year as part of the sunflower programme.
It consists in training for six months, refugee beneficiaries of Refugee Food in the profession of collective catering within host companies to promote their professional integration.
This year, for its second promotion, the program sent four of its people on internship out of twelve in the restaurants of the ASPP, under the direction of the town hall, which lent itself to the game. Among the lucky beneficiaries, Mokhtar and Ykaelo have been employed there since October in two of the branches present throughout the capital, where an average of 3,000 meals are served per day.
More than a training
The two cooks in training learn French at the same time in addition to their internship.
Having all had experience in the kitchen, the transition was more or less smooth for Ykaelo and Sayedmokhtar.
"In Eritrea there is no cheese, imagine my surprise when I arrived in France", jokes the first.
The two men, who explain that they have integrated well into their workplace, will receive a professional certificate as a technical catering employee at the end of their training and do not hide their hope of signing a permanent contract next March.
A project that has a great chance of succeeding given the excellent results of last year according to Valentine Pia, in charge of the sunflower program at the association.
Of the 11 people in the first promotion, 10 of them have found a job in collective catering and are now working for the AP-HP, school canteens or interim companies like Sodexo.
A success rate of 90% which can be explained by the motivation of the selected candidates — 12 people out of 70 applications — but also by the desire of the city of Paris to engage in more and more positive actions aimed at disadvantaged people, according to Antoine Guillou, deputy mayor, who is in charge of the restaurants of the ASPP.
Provide qualified personnel in a stressed sector
The association is distinguished by the professionalism of their training, according to Ian Brossat, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of refugee protection. He continues, “what is interesting is that Refugee Food offers concrete job opportunities to refugees”. The good results of the association allow them to be subsidized up to 30,000 euros by the town hall in order to develop their training sector.
While the catering sector was looking for 300,000 seasonal workers last summer according to Umih, the union of industry and hotel trades, the initiative of Refugee Food is overwhelmingly welcomed. favorably by the various partner companies.
“All our trainees are registered and paid by Pôle Emploi during their training, explains Valentine Pia, we provide a need for qualified personnel to companies that participate in a good action at the same time.
Two birds with one stone.
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