An extraordinary event occurred in the provincial Kaniv on June 14: 26 unemployed youths received diplomas of cabinet-makers as well as jobs provided by the Germany. This became possible owing to the assistance of the German government, the Friends of Kaniv Society from Viersen (land North Rhine-Wesphalia), the Bayer and Thyssen companies, and the Kaniv city council.
The joint Ukrainian-German project has lasted almost two years. It stared with an elementary German-language course and continued with on-the-job training at a woodwork factory in Riesa, near Dresden, and studies at Cherkasy Vocational School No. 15. Then there was advanced training at a Kaniv woodworking shop specially equipped by Viersen specialists.
“Eight best carpenters are shortly going to Germany for the second time,” Fritz Maes, vice-burgomaster of Viersen and one of the project fathers, told The Day by phone. “They will receive the qualification of cabinet-makers. On returning to Kaniv, they, along with their colleagues, will be employed by a newly-established Ukrainian-German woodworking enterprise.
Initial data says the German side invested over one million marks in the project. Was it worth all this to help 26 unemployed Kaniv residents? The Day ’s correspondent put this question to the chief Viersen representative in Kaniv, Alexander Apalkov who said, “After repeated reproaches to Viersen authorities that they, so to speak, can only gather and send humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the Germans decided to implement a project which could enable our compatriots not only eat fish but also catch it. This is No. 1. Secondly, do you really think the Germans, famous for their pragmatism, would have invested funds in a clearly money-losing project? Of course, not. The enterprise, now being organized in Kaniv on the basis of a training facility, should turn a profit in the nearest future owing to the high quality and reliability of the items produced.”
