A steep climb upwards

Mamadou Barry came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor refugee. After completing two apprenticeships at Klumpp, he was taken on by the company that trained him.

It was 2016 when Mamadou Barry left his West African homeland of Guinea behind and set off for Germany. He arrived as an unaccompanied minor refugee in a country that was foreign to him, whose language and culture he did not know. None of that stopped the now 21-year-old from making a steep climb upwards. Just six years later he has two successfully completed apprenticeships behind him and is now employed as a precision machining technician at Klumpp Präzisionswerk. “I am glad that I am allowed to stay here,” says Mamadou Barry. The company, based in Pößneck-Ost, has now been supporting the young man for several years.

First school-leaving qualification, then entry-level training and an apprenticeship.

After arriving in Germany, Mamadou Barry initially lived in Frankfurt for a time. From there his path led him to Ranis, where he was first accommodated in a children’s home before moving into his own flat in Pößneck at the age of 18. It was there that he also gained his lower secondary school-leaving certificate at the state vocational training centre. His time at Klumpp finally began with the entry-level qualification that followed – a work placement subject to social insurance contributions that prepares young people and young adults who have already decided on a particular occupation for an apprenticeship. Klumpp was happy to give Mamadou Barry a chance, and the young man knew how to make the most of it.

During the placement, which included a German course alongside the work in the company, he made a very good impression, and so the company wanted to continue working with him. Mamadou Barry was given an apprenticeship contract as a machine and plant operator. But that was still not enough for this determined young man: immediately afterwards he added a further qualification as a precision machining technician, which he recently completed successfully after eighteen months of training.

Grateful for all the support

Mamadou Barry has consistently impressed with good results and commitment. He says he owes his positive career path so far in part to the considerable support he received. “I was lucky to be able to start my apprenticeship here at Klumpp. My trainer Mr Schroth and the boss helped me a great deal. I am grateful to them, and just as grateful to my former teacher, who treated me like her own son and bought me school books. Without all of that I would not have managed it,” says Mamadou Barry.

There was great delight, then, when it was confirmed that Klumpp would take him on. On 10 February the 21-year-old signed his employment contract, as did Levi Hubich, who completed the apprenticeships as machine and plant operator and precision machining technician alongside Mamadou. “We are very proud to be able to keep them both on. They were the first to train as machining technicians with us and to complete it successfully straight away. We are glad we were able to keep good people, because we need them,” says trainer Matthias Schroth.

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Theresa Wahl on a path pursued with determination

A school-leaving qualification, two successfully completed apprenticeships and now a permanent position at Klumpp Präzisionswerk in Pößneck-Ost: what Mamadou Barry, originally from Guinea in West Africa, has already achieved after barely six years in Germany is impressive.

In that time he has learned a foreign language, settled into his new home, acquired a broad body of knowledge and made himself a qualified skilled worker. It was a path that was certainly not always easy and that held plenty of smaller and larger obstacles. But Mamadou Barry followed it with determination.