Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:32:17 | version 1.43.00
Commitment 33akzente 2/15 Skilled jobs for young people are in short supply in the Palestinian territories. The story of a confectionary worker illustrates how GIZ is helping to improve their prospects. SWEET VOCATION TEXT SUSANNE KNAUL Photos Naftali Hilger T he halawi croissant is where East meets West. The sweet halwa filling made with sesame seeds and wrapped in flaky filo pastry is a speciality of Omar’s bakery in the centre of Hebron. Baking here starts at seven o’clock in the morning. The croissants filled with strawberry jam and chocolate are al- ready finished, the caramel biscuits are just missing a sprinkling of coconut chips. The business is run by Omar Sider, whose confec- tionery products add a new twist to the tradi- tional pastries on offer in Hebron, where Ar- abic baklavas are the norm. Even his shop is a little unusual by the standards of this con- servative city, situated just 30 kilometres south of Jerusalem. Opened just a few months ago, the glass-fronted confectionery shop is decked out with bright green shelves and tables. 27-year-old Renal Qawasmeh has been a part of the enterprise from the outset. She works upstairs, cutting out biscuits be- fore baking, filling and decorating them. She is the professional heart of the business – and the only woman in a team of four. Qawasmeh is one of the first female pas- try chefs in this city of over 200,000 inhabit- ants. She wears an apron over her dress and a black-and-red headscarf. Her bakery is spot- less: plastic containers filled with coloured candy sprinkles, chopped nuts and chocolate chips are lined up ready and waiting. It is a job the young woman clearly enjoys. Just now she is testing the consistency of a white chocolate mousse slowly warming on a stove; at the same time, she instructs a colleague to take a finished tray-load down to the shop. You would never guess she was a newcomer to the confectionery trade. Her oven pro- duces up to 30 kilograms of biscuits a day – not to mention a wide range of tarts, cakes and special orders. ‘I love to work with my hands,’ says Qawasmeh. ‘At the end of the day you can see what you have achieved.’ University studies popular, despite meagre job prospects A short while later Qawasmeh pays a visit to her former training college. She belongs to the third class of students to have gradu- ated from the training course for pastry chefs. Part of an initiative to promote job opportunities in the Palestinian territories, the course is implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Eco- nomic Cooperation and Development. The vocational training college, which also offers a range of other courses, is housed in a par- tially converted orphanage. Next door to Qawasmeh’s former classroom, where con- fectionery skills are being taught to a new generation of pastry chefs, a second group of young Palestinians is learning the art of cookery, while a third is acquiring the skills needed to wait tables. Rania al-Musleman gives her former student a warm welcome when she enters the kitchen. Just over a year ago, Qawas- meh was still practising her baking skills here. The teacher wears a baker’s cap em- broidered with a red letter ‘R’ over her headscarf. The cap confers additional au- thority on a woman already bursting with charisma. ‘Come on, give me a hand,’ she urges Qawasmeh. The younger woman bor- rows an apron and together the pair dem- onstrates how sugar water is ladled onto freshly baked baklava. By the time they take their examination, the trainees will have mastered both traditional Arabic con- fectionery and western-style pastry skills. In addition, they will have learned about hygiene and nutrition. Divided up by gender, the classes of would-be pastry chefs, cooks and waiting staff are still undersubscribed. This has noth- ing to do with course fees, however. Trainees pay a token amount for the entire course, equivalent to around 300 euros. ‘Working in the service industry just isn’t considered an attractive career,’ explains teacher Islam Abu Alfilat with a sigh. Service is his area of re- sponsibility. ‘Most people don’t consider waiting tables a profession.’ In terms of man- ual jobs, Hebron is better known for glass- blowing, handmade ceramics and leather products. And those who can scrape enough money together in Hebron prefer to send » Right choice: after completing a degree in graphic design, Renal Qawasmeh retrained to become a pastry chef. Not only does she now enjoy her job, she also takes home more pay.