Wer keine Arbeit findet, geht zum Jobcenter — oder er gründet sein eigenes Unternehmen. Wie Amer Saba mit einer veganen Catering-Firma durchstarten will.
Those who can’t find work go to the job centre — or start their own company. Like Amer Saba with his vegan catering business.
“On top of that, I also hold a master’s degree in Banking and Finance ...”/“Mr. Saba, in spite of your qualifications, the only job opportunity available in your current situation is as a gas station attendant.”/“Yesterday I accidently passed by Kiel’s Refugee Help Centre and decided to invite the people there over for dinner. Nearly thirty people, so I need you to be in with me on this.”/”Sure, I’m a professional chef, but I need your help in managing it all.”/More and more local initiatives begin asking for Amer Saba and Weiam Issa’s help to prepare food for their events. Amer and Weiam accept without hesitation./“That’s great. Can you call me tomorrow?”/“Gladly.”/Even the German newspaper Kieler Nachrichten wrote about one banquet Amer and Weiam volunteered to prepare for one of the social centers.
“You said I should give you a call ...”/“Listen, Amer, it’s my birthday next week. I want you to prepare the food. This is a job offer, not volunteer work.”/“The food was fabulous! But the amount of money you asked for is too low—you deserve more, so I’ll pay you more.”/“Thank you so much!”/“We should seriously think about this whole cooking thing.”/“Who said I wasn’t already!”/“We’ll open a restaurant ... a Syrian restaurant.”/“There are already so many of them! We’ll have to think of something unique.”
“How many Syrian food recipes can you cook with oil and no meat?”/“Plenty! Plus all the dishes which instead of using meat and animal fat are cooked with oil for the Christian days of fasting.”/“We call them ‘oil dishes’—Germans call it ‘vegan’ food.”/“You’ve got great business sense!”/“Vegan food isn’t enough. And even a restaurant can’t reach enough people, even if it were large. I want to start a project that doesn’t have limits.”/“What’s up, Amer? My mom cooked a super delicious horra asbao (a Damascene dish with noodles, lentils and coriander). No matter how skilled the chef, nothing can top mom’s cooking. I’ve got a Tupperware box full of food, just for you. Come by and grab it.”/“Mom’s cooking ... in Tupperware ... that’s it! I’ve got it ... I’ve got it!”
“So, the goal would be establishing a vegan catering company. Housewives will cook the food and receive fair wages, and they’ll be working directly from their own homes.”/“Great idea! Giving housewives something to do would be great. But you’ll have to familiarise yourself with the many health and safety regulations and the German bureaucracy, not to mention the tax codes.”/“Yeah I know—I’ll make sure to do studying.”/“You’ll also have to write out a clear business plan so that you can maintain a clean relationship with the job centre as you start to implement your plan.”/“Hey Amer, how’s cooking up the plan going?”/“It’ll work out. It won’t be more difficult than cooking horra asbao!”