Working life of a refugee
Amadou Bah is looking to make his way with thyssenkrupp – He fled his small village in Guinea to escape the country’s military dictatorship.
Not long here and already more German than the Germans? “He’s always the first to arrive at 5.15 a.m. If he took the next bus he’d get in two minutes late, and he doesn’t want that,” says Heinz Joachim Klose, head of the technology center. He’s talking about Amadou Bah, a 21-year-old refugee doing an internship at thyssenkrupp’s steel division as part of the project “Metalworking skills for young refugees” organized by the Siegen Chamber of Commerce. Despite the language barrier Bah is already well integrated, and even has a girlfriend here.
Escape from violence and criminality
The young man is originally from a small village in Guinea. Serious crime, unrest and road blockades are day-to-day occurrences under the military dictatorship there. The German Foreign Office warns that “violent conflicts between family clans or ethnic groups can break out at any time.” Three years ago, Bah left the West African country for Germany via Portugal and has settled in the Siegerland region.
"He’s a quick learner and very motivated. He appreciates that this is a big opportunity for him." - Heinz Joachim Klose, Head of technology center for education
That’s how training supervisor Klose describes the exemplary efforts of “his” trainee. Bah has been working at the thyssenkrupp technology center in Kreuztal since the end of last year and has made a good impression. Together with two young men from Kosovo in their early 20s, he is among the first refugees to be given the opportunity of a start at thyssenkrupp via an internship.
We help
Colleagues at thyssenkrupp are supporting the new arrivals in a number of ways, for example with donations in kind. And because we firmly believe that work is an important factor in integrating refugees, the Group has launched the “we help” program: Over the next two years we will create 150 additional apprenticeships and 230 internships for refugees at our German subsidiaries.