IRIS Traineeship First Success Stories

Ms. Mari Yusuf is one of the first beneficiaries of the traineeship activity of the EU IRIS programme. She has three children, the oldest one will soon be 18 years old and start studies in Gevorgryan Seminary of Armenian Apostolic Church, while the smallest one is six years old. In her family – which was among the first refugees who decided to move to Armenia already in 2006 – no one works besides her. All her relatives went to the EU and USA, but she with her husband decided to escape to Armenia: first they went to Lebanon, and facing discrimination there they decided to come to Armenia.

 In Armenia they tried to open their own business, but did not manage to run it properly due to small market. Now they live only with the money she got during traineeships and some support they receive from the relatives in US. “This traineeship is more than simple support with money, it helps me to believe in myself, to gain new skills and to be integrated more in society” – states Mari. Thanks to IRIS she learnt sewing and after 3 months of traineeship period she got a permanent employment contract. “Thanks to IRIS my family has now stable income, it’s always better to have a job than to wait for some support from organisations or relatives” – noted Mari. Her employer Ms. Arevik noted: “As my workers need to communicate with clients as well it is difficult to find right and single-hearted persons, who won’t steal your clients and will not cheat neither you nor clients with regards to money, so I am happy and thankful to IRIS for finding such a good and intelligent person to work for me. My only concern was that Mari is not self-confirmed with regards to her communication skills in Armenian, but within this 3 months she got not only good sewing skills but also communication skills”.

From our side we wish Mari and her employer Arevik good luck in their future cooperation!