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In China, there is woman called Hu Yanping who owns a restaurant.
With the support of the local government, They all got a free training during which they learned how to do the job. Hu Yangping said that she hopes her employees can find happiness, |
A restaurant located in the city of Changchun, north eastern China, recently started offering training and jobs for people with intellectual disabilities. With the help of the provincial government, restaurant owner Hu Yanping has taken on no less than twelve employees through this way. The initiative is said to be the first of its kind in China.
The Forrest Gump restaurant- named after the film starring Tom Hanks – is the creation of Hu Yanping, who, since her own son died in 2001, has become committed into improving the lives of children with special needs.
After them having completing a training, Hu has offered jobs to a dozen of people that earns them a monthly salary of 300 yuan (about 50 Euros), which increases as the staff gains more experience.
The trainings were supported by the Jilin provincial government, that in total offered schooling to over 34 000 people with disabilities in 2014. It is also picking up half of the restaurant’s running costs as part of a new government supported employment scheme.
Provincial Disabled Person’s Federation Chairman Cheng Dacheng told local television that ‘we hope to accumulate some positive experience from this experiment, and then progressively promote this across the whole province’.
The initiative has not been applauded or taken serious by everyone. However, Hu defends her work by saying that ‘Gump restaurant is not aiming at making a lot of money, but to provide those people with an opportunity to work. I hope they can also find happiness, dignity, and worth in working’.
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To see pictures of the restaurant and its staff, click here.
