“They are very motivated people”

Vira has been working for a week in the kitchens of “La Gratinée”, a restaurant in the fourteenth arrondissement of Marseille. If her son is still fighting in Ukraine, she settled in Marseille at the beginning of May with her daughter.

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To make themselves understood by her, her colleagues use the translator on their phone. “We live in a boat, in this ferry which welcomes more than 600 Ukrainians“, explains Vira. Our goal here is also to find work. I sent my CV and I was lucky because I found this job straight away.”

Vira was already cooking in Ukraine. The only difference, and it is significant, is therefore the language barrier. “As I don’t have a phone handy, I talk to him mostly with gestures, it’s a bit like the deaf-mute system”jokes Serge Oroux, the chef.

In the kitchen, it is therefore a ballet of gestures and facial expressions. But when it gets too complicated, Valentin uses his app: “When I ask her to cut something, if she doesn’t understand well, I use a translator over the phone. The language barrier is then broken.” The cook adds: “I think it’s good that she’s here because these people need to get back to normality, to forget about what happened there and move on.”

“We are short of personnel and in addition, everyone wants to show solidarity with these Ukrainians.”

Bernard Marty, president of Umih in the Bouches-du-Rhône

at franceinfo

Véra is not the only one to work in this sector in Marseille, where the demand is such that the Umih, the Union of trades and industries of the hotel industry, organizes Tuesday May 24 a “job dating” in this ferry which welcomes Ukrainians. Bernard Marty, the president of Umih in the Bouches-du-Rhône, ensures that “the conditions are met to have highly motivated people on both sides.”