Last week Annemari and Margus, staff members of our new Erasmus+ partner, the Astangu Vocational Rehabilitation Centre from Tallinn/Estonia, as well as Indrek Linuste from the Ammanita project, also from Tallinn/Estonia, visited us at the Euro-BBW to get to know our centre.

The Astangu VRC is relatively similar to the Euro-BBW: it also offers pre-vocational training, vocational training, support services (such as physiotherapy, etc.), some kind of integration counseling and living quarters for the rehabilitants, but unlike the Euro-BBW, it does not have its own vocational school. The Ammanita project offers jobs to people with disabilities according to their individual abilities, as well as various housing options.

After the official welcome by Euro-BBW director Anita Sonndag and a presentation of the centre and the dual system by Anne Unfried, Erasmus+ coordinator of the Euro-BBW, our Estonian guests first visited different areas of the Euro-BBW before our employee Sonja Thommes introduced them to the integration counseling. In the afternoon, the program included the visit of our pre-vocational training department, the work of the rehabilitation teams and a tour of the institution.

On the second day of the visit, they first went to Bernkastel-Kues to the DRK-Sozialwerk, a social service organization that offers a diverse range of services in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in the areas of leisure, housing and work for people with mental and/or physical disabilities, mental illness and social difficulties. Afterwards, Hilde Greichgauer, former member of the board, introduced them to the inclusive living project Schammatdorf e.V. in Trier by means of a tour.

A sightseeing tour of Trier with a joint lunch and an evaluation discussion rounded off the visit of our Estonian guests. The whole meeting was very positive and promising, and we are already looking forward to further cooperation ! Aitäh külastuse eest, Annemari, Margus ja Indrek!