Halima’s Story – Update!
"Growing my skills and confidence makes me feel like I’m closer to achieving my dream"
Halima has previously shared her story – including how she had to leave her family home, but was focussed on her dream to one day open her own bakery. A year on, Halima has grown in confidence and taken steps towards making her dream a reality.
Last week I graduated from the Change Please programme. They train people who are dealing with homelessness to be baristas, and I was really happy to complete the training with a prize-giving ceremony. I heard about it through an event held at Your Place helping with education and employment, and as I was looking for opportunities, the programme was recommended to me and I was put forward.
I did three months of paid training, and it was really good. I felt my confidence build up as part of the training was serving customers and making coffee. I’ve learnt about different types of coffee, and my tastes have even changed! Now I drink a single-shot coffee with sugar; that would be my order!
As part of the training, I did a work placement, and I now have a job with the same coffee shop. At first it was one or two days a week, but now I’ve built my confidence and skills, I’m doing four to five days a week, and things are looking up.
I also signed up for a baking course, and I’ll be graduating from that in the summer. That was a great experience too; every week we’d learn how to bake something new, whether that’s different types of bread, pastries, or cakes. My favourite thing to bake is definitely a carrot cake or chocolate cake.
It’s my dream to open up my own bakery, and growing my skills and confidence makes me feel like I’m closer to achieving my dream. I want to keep studying and gaining the qualifications I need for my own business, but until then I’m becoming a better baker, and now I can add barista to the list!
