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Tewdros Melaku
Tewdros Melaku is 32 years old and has two children aged 7 and 5. He has lived in Newham for the past 5 years. After splitting up with his partner he became homeless and has spent three years rough sleeping. During this time he slept wherever he could in garages, disused vans, and night shelters and would regularly buy a travel card and travel on the number 25 bus from Ilford to Oxford Circus during the night which would provide him with an hour and a half sleep each way. The low point of his life was one cold winter night when he was sleeping in Newham shopping centre and was thrown out by the security guards. Having nowhere to go Tewdros was forced to sleep on the pavement. At this point he decided to try to change his life around.
Tewdros entered Anchor House, a hostel and life skills centre for homeless adults. Their aim is to give homeless and vulnerable people the opportunity to improve their quality of life by providing a caring, stable and supportive environment to enable greater independence. While at Anchor House he undertook his Level 1 NVQ in literacy and numeracy. He then enrolled on the East Potential ‘Let’s Build’ programme, which provided him with increased confidence and skills making him more employable. During this time not only was his confidence increasing but also so was his determination to gain a career in construction.
Tewdros was then successful in gaining a position on a BeOnsite training course for formwork carpenters designed and delivered in partnership with PJ Careys. Throughout the training Tewdros gained excellent feedback regarding his punctuality, attendance, his attitude to his work and his colleagues. Having successfully passed the course he has spent the last six months working for BeOnsite on a Bovis Lend Lease site.
Along with gaining positive feedback from all of his managers, Tewdros has recently taken on the role of mentoring and supporting a number of the new trainees who have come through the programme. Tewdros now describes his life as “paradise” compared to his previous life. He is clear that it is his respect for himself, others and taking responsibility for his actions which has lead to him achieving what he has and he now wants to share his experience and provide advice to others that may be in a similar situation. Tewdros now has his own home and sees his children every weekend, a well paid job with great career prospects and BeOnsite has a loyal, respectful and hard working employee who is an inspiration to us all. |
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