From refugee to owner of a coffee bar
32-year-old Khaled Alyami, better known as Noori, knows how important work can be. Six years ago he fled from Yemen to the Netherlands. He now has his own coffee bar in Haarlem.
“If you participate from day one, you will taste how beautiful it is, you will make friends. You really get the energy to move along.”
He describes working in the Netherlands as ‘wonderful’. “I feel people’s appreciation and I can contribute something.”
Still a lot of room for improvement
At the same time, labor participation among status holders is still relatively low. Many people do not yet have work, especially in the first years.
That is why the national government wants eighty municipalities to work with so-called starter jobs. These are jobs that do not yet require good Dutch, especially in sectors such as logistics, catering and construction.
At Cleaning Buddies they notice that customization is important.
“On a construction site where there is a lot of demand and communication between us and clients, a different approach is required than on the scaffolding of a residential tower where the men can do their thing.”
