Dubai: The Danube Welfare Centre has been successful in bringing about a positive transformation in the lives of many workers in Dubai ever since it opened in November last year.
The centre offers a range of free training courses to help unskilled workers improve their skills and allow them to develop their careers.
The centre’s initiatives include a three-month basic English programme that aims to help workers become more confident when interacting in English.
Some of the 15 individuals who have enrolled for the most recent language programme told Gulf News about the opporunities it promises for them.
Ling, a Chinese national who works at a saloon, said that she wanted to learn English so that she could communicate better with her customers. “Before taking this class, I would tell my customers to come on day one, four, or six instead of saying the days of the week. I am very happy now that I know all days of the week,” she said.
Abdul, an Indian worker, heard about the centre through his friend. He says he never misses a class although he has to come all the way from Jebel Ali because he wants to learn English and find a job in the government sector. He added that he wants to enroll for the next level of courses offered at the Centre “to better my growth personally and professionally.”
Mohammad Abdullah, an Emirati attending the classes, said that he didn’t know the English alphabet before he joined the centre. “I could not read, write or speak English before but, after attending English classes regularly, my English is improving a lot,” he said.
Rizwan Sajan, founder and chairman of Danube Group, said that since the centre opened, 25-30 workers of various nationalities, including UAE, China, Pakistan and India, have registered.
“The aim in setting up the Danube Welfare Centre was to expand the competitiveness of the workers. The idea was not just to groom the workers, but to upgrade them to a level where they can do a non-blue collar job, and to help them develop their career,” he said.
Sajan said that, over the years, he noticed that some of the workers have great potential and skill, but only lacked in good communication skills or did not appear presentable.
“This is one reason why people miss some good employees because they are not polished and cannot present themselves properly.”
To address this issue, the centre emphasizes four basic skills — speaking, listening, reading and writing, Sajan said. “At this point of time, each class accommodates a maximum of 15 students, and with time we will increase the number of divisions reaching out to a wider audience,” he said.
He added that there are plans to set up new centres in Sharjah and Ajman to cater to more workers.
“We are also working with diplomatic missions of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as Adopt-A-Camp, which has 43 camps and more than 32,000 men under its wing,” he said, adding that staff from the centre also make regular trips to workers’ accommodations to introduce services offered by the centre.
