Bethel - Baking for professional happiness

Melina Fabri carefully cracks three eggs one after the other, puts them in a pan with flour and sugar and gives everything a good stir with the mixer. Since the former pupil at the Topehlen School of the Eben-Ezer Foundation decided to train as a home economics specialist, the kitchen at the SOS Children's Village Lippe has been her workplace. The 23-year-old will start her third and final year of training in September.

For the practical part, which consists of the sub-disciplines of catering and service, house cleaning and textile care, the Lemgo native is at the training company three times a week. For the theoretical content, she commutes to the Friedrich v. Bodelschwingh Vocational College in Bielefeld-Bethel on the other days. "I really like it here. I have nice trainers, and we also go on educational excursions in between, like to Dr Oetker's test kitchen."

Together with other trainees, she cooks lunch for around 150 people in the kitchen at the SOS Children's Village. In addition to internal employees, the canteen is also open to external guests three times a week. "We cook a vegetarian dish and a meat dish every day. On some days, we also serve cake in the afternoon," says Melina Fabri. "My favourite thing to make is soup or something sweet, like a Nutella cake or a strawberry sponge roll."

Every week, Melina Fabri alternates between the kitchen and the laundry. In the laundry, a large load of cooking laundry and a small load of crockery and cleaning cloths are cleaned in-house every day. When ironing, Melina Fabri has to make sure that there are no creases in the clothes, also in view of the final exam: "Chef's jackets are the most difficult," says the trainee.

Before she found her current training position through an internship, the prospective specialised practitioner attended the Topehlen School in Lemgo for many years. However, at the age of 14, Melina Fabri felt underchallenged at the Bethel special school and switched to the Hauptschule. However, she changed her mind after just two weeks. "The lessons were too difficult, the classmates weren't nice and the class was far too big," she says looking back. In the practical vocational level at the Topehlen School, she found it much easier to learn in smaller classes and with less time pressure.

After graduating from secondary school, Melina Fabri was able to gain a professional foothold as a prospective specialist in home economics. She already has a plan for the time after her training. "I want to find a job in my local area - preferably in a kitchen or laundry." Regardless of where the trainee ends up, her trainers Irmela Albert and Heike Schlepper believe she is well equipped to start her career. "Melina will go her own way, we're sure of that."

Text: Simon Steinberg | Picture: Christian Weische