00:00This flock of sheep is Ossam's new job.
00:05The young man is originally from Sudan,
00:09but after migrating to Spain he needed to find work and was lucky.
00:14Through a government program he managed to train to become a shepherd
00:18and is now employed on a farm in a small village in central Spain.
00:23There is a lot of work for shepherds in Spain,
00:30but people don't like to work in the countryside.
00:33I just want to be working. This was the quickest job I could get.
00:41Migrants like Ossam are a silver lining for many Spanish farmers
00:45who are facing a critical shortage of workers on their farms.
00:50It's difficult to find people who work in the countryside.
00:54Most of the businesses that exist right now won't have successes
00:57because the children don't want to follow in their parents' footsteps.
01:00So we have to look for those people elsewhere, often outside the country.
01:04There are many people who come seeking opportunities to improve the situation
01:08and here what we ultimately do is give them that opportunity.
01:14The Shepherding Training Course for Migrants is funded by the regional government
01:18and has existed since 2022.
01:23I'm doing training course about animals, cows, sheep, ghosts,
01:30and I will be very glad to work in a camp with animals.
01:37For five days, migrants learned the basics of working with animals
01:47before doing a practice day on a farm.
01:50If they are allowed to work in Spain, they can then get matched with a farmer
01:54and start their new lives as shepherds.
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