Master baker Björn Wiese wants to provide young people with opportunities and a future. He provides training and future prospects to refugees in his bakeries in Eberswalde.
Mohamad Hamza Alemam had never tasted German bread until he set foot in Björn Wiese’s bakery. From that moment on he was hooked.
Now a trainee sales assistant, the 23-year-old Syrian hopes to learn the secrets of German breadmaking and one day take them home with him.
It was two years ago when master baker Björn first hit upon the idea of training and employing newcomers in his chain of three bakeries.
Björn now employs ten refugees and asylum-seekers. Together, they make up a sixth of his workforce and among them are several trainees like Mohamad, who started out as a part-time employee.
Although he has been learning German since he first arrived in 2015, the language barrier was Mohamad’s biggest challenge. He was afraid of making mistakes in front of customers. However, colleagues helped and his confidence improved.
Mohamad says it was Björn’s warm welcome and dedication to his staff that made him decide to commit more seriously to the bakery job. This summer, he asked Björn if he could progress to become a trainee sales assistant. Björn agreed, helping Mohamad to work towards a vocational qualification.
Now a full-time member of the team, Mohamad is learning how to run the shop and cafe, as well as the basics of breadmaking in Björn’s on-site bakery.
For Björn, seeing the difference he can make in the lives of employees like Mohamad makes all the hard work worth it. It is a message he would like to pass on to other business owners.
It is the commitment of business owners like Björn Wiese – as well as mayors, volunteers and other community leaders – that helps to promote integration in many parts of Germany~UNHCR
