Canary Islands | June 5, 2018
Envera - Asociación de Empleados de Iberia Padres de Personas con Discapacidad, is committed to the preservation of the Canarian garden as an opportunity for job creation for people with disabilities and implements a training model that moves towards sustainability and care for the environment while having as its main objective the social and labor inclusion of the people it accompanies throughout their lives.
In recent years and through the training projects for employment that Envera promotes in Tenerife with the support of the Canary Islands Employment Service and co-financed by the European Social Fund, students have developed vertical gardens that represent the flora of the different island ecosystems, being themselves who select native plants and substrates that make up this type of constructions that do not require large investments of water, do not require great maintenance and withstand inclement weather without difficulty helping to improve the environment in which they are located.
In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Envera is also committed to training in the agricultural sector to increase the employability of people with disabilities. In the gardening projects started in 2015 and in which more than thirty students with disabilities have already been trained, they work on the implementation and maintenance of gardens making use of the flora of the Canary Islands archipelago for ornamental use.
An example of this work is the Capellanía park in Villa de Ingenio, landscaped by Envera's students and teachers, where the most representative vegetation of the area can be enjoyed. "It is a sustainable representation of the Canary Island landscape with minimal water and maintenance requirements and is perfectly adapted to the environment," according to the Envera professionals who teach the students. In addition, in order to integrate agriculture and involve the neighbors, the park has several urban gardens to promote social participation in caring for the environment.
Envera unites disability and environment with the support of local and island administrations and the collaboration of companies that have joined the commitment that the Association has with the most vulnerable. Last December, Envera's project "Dis-Ability. La capacidad de la discapacidad" was the winner of the ACTÚA call promoted by the company JTI Iberia in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The aim of the project is the implementation of urban orchards and vertical gardens from workshops taught by professionals with disabilities who have previously obtained the Certificate of Professionalism in Gardening Activities.
Thanks to the social commitment of the JTI Iberia team, Adramis, an Envera student, has obtained a job to start up a gardening workshop with the support of his teachers. This workshop was held at the headquarters of the University Foundation of Las Palmas with "great success in terms of participation", according to Yolanda González, head of the Envera delegation in Las Palmas.
Adramis, who combines his passion for gardening with his artistic facet as a rapper, is now preparing to give new workshops to JTI Iberia employees and residents of Ingenio who wish to learn how to prepare their own vertical gardens.
"Envera trains people committed to the preservation of the environment and the sustainability of the unique ecosystems of the Canary Islands while providing them with professional training and a job opportunity", says this organization, which has been working for more than 40 years for the social and labor inclusion of people with disabilities under the motto "we can all be the best at something", as Adramis and her colleagues show us every day.
