Source: De Ware Tijd- 04/12/2020
"Wiren is the first of many", says Staatsolie's CEO Rudolf Elias about Wiren Meghoe, the twenty-year-old hearing impaired who joined the company as Junior ICT Technician.
"His colleagues have done everything within their powers to be able to work with him and certainly take his disability into account," says Elias.
Meghoe became a celebrity due to the feature film 'Wiren' named after him, which was released in 2018 and scored well at the annual film festival in Utrecht (Netherlands)
last year. The story shows the problems people with disabilities, in this case the deaf, face, but what can still be achieved with perseverance.
After graduating from the Kennedy School, Meghoe left for the Netherlands where he did an internship and gained ICT knowledge and experience.
Elias: "We have indeed noticed him and at Staatsolie we certainly want to discriminate positively by giving preference to people with disabilities."
The CEO admits that Staatsolie was still lagging in increasing opportunities and employing people with disabilities.
"We paid attention to changing this and spent a year working on how to implement the changes."
Actor Idi Lemmers, who played the adult Wiren in the film, is thrilled that Meghoe has joined Staatsolie.
"He's intelligent and eager to learn so I am convinced he can handle the job."
Lemmers says that Meghoe has been working with computers for a while and has entered the subtitles for the film.
"Sander Coumou, editor and co-writer only had to explain the process once and he already understood. Usually, subtitling needs to be explained a few times.
But Wiren had even developed his own method for subtitling." Aroenkoemar Meghoe, father of Wiren, calls joining Staatsolie "a proud moment for the family".
"He was really happy. Just imagine: a child with a disability who works for a national company.
It's great!" father Meghoe beams. He thinks it is special that Staatsolie offers people with disabilities the opportunity to work on their personal development.
"Wiren felt good and was happy to see that he was welcomed in his own spoken language - sign language - by his colleagues," says his father.
Meghoe senior is convinced that his son will learn a lot at Staatsolie.
"He also hopes that his colleagues will grow with him and that if he does not understand something, they give him the space to learn."
Still, a lot needs to be done for people with disabilities. Elias hopes to have taken a first step with Meghoe to make Staatsolie a reflection of Surinamese society.
"Like Staatsolie, people with disabilities are part of society and we strive to have them represented as well as possible within the company," said the director.
