Christine Bugeja meticulously pastes a thin line of glue on the sides of a small cardboard sheet, folds it and presses it down, forming an envelope.
We have a disability but we work as well as other people and are just as capable
With almost robotic precision, the 22-year-old does the same with the next one, gently stacks the envelopes and places a weight on them. Each time she finishes a batch of 10, she smiles as she looks at her work with satisfaction.
“I enjoy doing this. I like it that I’m working and there are other people with me. We do good work,” the young woman says, momentarily lifting her gaze from her work.
Sitting next to her, Steve Cassar, 32, is also making envelopes to be used in a hotel to hold room key cards.
“I enjoy what we do here a great deal. We have a disability but we work as well as other people and are just as capable,” he says as his other colleague, Simone Ragusa, enthusiastically adds: “I have fun. We do good work.”
The three workers are part of the Me2! Cooperative run by people with disabilities.
It forms part of the Me2! project, aimed at raising awareness among employers and providing work opportunities for people with disabilities. It is co-financed by the European Social Fund and coordinated since 2009 by Aġenzija Sapport.
Project administrator Alban Thika explains that the project runs until this year but the goal is that by 2013, it will stand on its own feet and continue running.
The cooperative, based in Mtarfa, works like a company in which about 50 disabled people, who are registered members, do jobs for businesses that request their services.
Jobs include assembling boxes and envelops, data inputting, scanning, filing and anything else.
Members are paid and the cooperative also offers training and teaches its members how a business works. Throughout their jobs, they are backed by support workers.
Cooperative president Joseph Stafrace says it offers competitive rates and can deliver within tight deadlines.
“We deliver quality work, on time and at competitive rates. We offer lots of advantages,” he ays, adding the cooperative also helps disabled people live up to their potential.
Support workers Samuel Curmi and Anna Sciberras have witnessed this happen.
“When they come here they are very reserved. But then you see them opening up and becoming more independent. You see that smile on their face as they become more sociable, when before they would just want to stay home,” they agreed.
Rodrick Axisa, who is preparing sheets of corrugated cardboard to encase wine bottles, clearly enjoys it: “I like it that I get paid and that I don’t have to stay home or at the (respite) centre.”
Businesses interested in working with the cooperative can obtain more information by visiting www.me2coop.sharepoint.com or by calling 2788 5110/2388 5161.