On the 30th International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the faith-based Amity Foundation launched a public welfare live stream of a day of a baker with intellectual impairment.
To encourage the public to promote the awareness of mental disabilities, Amity released the live broadcast on December 3 with the title of “Going to Work with the Cuties”, recording the busy day of a little "cutie" (a term of endearment used for people who are intellectually impaired), Fufu, and other workers in the Amity Bakery.
Fufu is a young man aged about thirty. Due to mental disorders, his thinking and cognitive ability are only at a child-like level. But in the bakery, he is an all-rounder who is able to hold multiple jobs and can also lead the new trainees to get familiar with the work. With meticulousness and a sense of responsibility, he has been recognized by many colleagues and customers, and is known as “Mr. Fu”.
At 9 o’clock in the morning, Fufu had already prepared the working lunch for the day and set off for work after saying goodbye to his mother.
It takes 13 or 14 stops of the bus to get to the bakery, and Fufu can accurately recall the name of each stop along the route. It is almost second nature to him to know which direction the bus will turn at each intersection. In fact, he usually takes the subway, but for the live broadcast, he chose the bus. On the bus, he took out his mobile phone to play Chinese string-up puzzles and other small games to kill time.
After nearly an hour’s ride, he finally arrived at the Amity Bakery on Youfuxi Street, Qinhuai District, Nanjing City.
In the store, a trainer of the Amity Home of Blessings was teaching the new students to identify bread categories. Compared with healthy people, these "cuties" with mental disablities are relatively limited in memory and recognition ability, so it is necessary for the trainers to explain the shape and appearance of bread in general and detailed language and guide them patiently to help them establish a solid memory.
Fufu soon changed into his work clothes and explained to his audience watching the live broadcast about the store’s products, from cookies to various flavors of bread.
Next, as the arrival of the express order came through, the students began the distribution process in the store under the guidance of the trainer and the orderly division of labor. In the process, he called out the items that the orders needed, and the other cuties quickly took the corresponding pastries off the shelves.
Then, they would take the goods to the second floor for packing boxes. In ordinary people’s eyes, it is easy to pack the express box, but it is not easy for the cuties who lack hand-eye coordination. At present, only Fufu and another trainee in the shop are relatively skilled at completing the packing. Wrapping tape, cutting bubble wrap... It usually takes more than ten minutes to pack a box.
“Although the efficiency of the packaging is slower than healthy people, every sent box carries their efforts. We hope that you can adopt the form of 'buying instead of donating' to support our trainees. This can not only support the operation of our bakery but also help students to constantly exercise their coordination ability of hand and brain,” said the trainer at the bakery.
In the final cookie-making process, trainees finished the original-flavor cookie with the help of trainers and bakers. Although the density of cookies on the plate varied in the end, their dedicated work won praise from many viewers watching the live broadcast.
In the live broadcast, Mr. Ren, one of the trainers, also introduced the process of how the trainees grew into qualified bakery employees:
Generally speaking, Amity Home of Blessings can be regarded as a “pre-job training base” of the bakery, where trainers evaluate the trainees in terms of intelligence, self-care ability, and social skills, as well as conduct targeted training. After systematic vocational training, trainees who can take care of themselves, consciously abide by social rules, have a certain psychological capacity, and work with strong initiative and enthusiasm can work in the bakery.
- Translated by Charlie Li
