Proofers programme brings skills & confidence to young refugees: Interview with Endri
Endri, right, and mentor Arub give a thumbs up to the camera at Victoria Park market.
Breadwinners continues to progress with the refugee and asylum-seeking community in the UK through our programmes and social community activities. The newest programme is the Proofers programme, which was created in April last year to allow us to continue with our programmes during the first lockdown. It is a progression from our Breadwinners programme.
“To have all of this experience gave me the biggest confidence and made me proud of myself, and gave me a feeling of happiness.”
At the moment, the Proofers programme is working to give support to young people to integrate, meet friends and also gain confidence. It supports young people with further customer service experience and IT skills. In this programme, participants are provided with laptops, headsets and work as online sales representatives. Their main task is to gather feedback on our products and retain customers, but they are now taking on a key role in our expansion towards commercial and wholesale orders, including cold-contacting potential customers.
As well as providing valuable and varied experience in remote working, IT skills and customer service, the Proofers programme also helps participants develop English communication skills.
We chatted to Endri, who is currently taking part in the Proofers programme after working as a Breadwinner, on our stall, for 6 months. “This programme taught me all the skills I will need in my future and in all next stages. I’m progressing in my life with college, university and soon a career,” said Endri.
Endri began with us as a Market Stall Manager last year, which helped to improve his English and develop his skills in communication. It also allowed him to find friends in London, and this helped him integrate into UK society.
Endri is excited to gain more experience on the Proofers programme and says his customer care skills are improving a lot. He says learning how to deal with businesses is giving him more confidence when speaking to people, too.
Endri adds: “I’m very proud of myself that I have the confidence, which Breadwinners gave me, to work with businesses. That was a very big challenge for me, especially in this age [COVID pandemic].”
Endri says Breadwinners “taught me what the meaning of responsibility is and they also showed me how important it is to be organised; and they taught me what the meaning of privacy is and how important it is. To have all of this experience gave me the biggest confidence and made me proud of myself, and gave me a feeling of happiness.”
“Breadwinners taught me the meaning of responsibility and how important it is to be organised.”
Endri also says that his time with Breadwinners has changed all aspects of his life. He has a social life, lots of friends and the experience he has gained with Breadwinners will help in his future: “They [these skills] made me perfect at negotiating and improving my language during my experience [helps me] be more familiar with my new country.”
Endri’s experience shows the importance of our Proofers programme, and we are excited to continue with the programme to help young people integrate into the UK and help them “win” against the new challenge presented by COVID-19.
Thank you to Endri for chatting with Lubna for this article.