It had never heard about a company called Endeavour Foundation until my friend David Cameron contacted me and asked to do some work for a company that he now works for. They asked me to perform, at their properties all around North Queensland, audits of the fire systems and evacuation procedures and the Asset Management systems. There were another 3 consultants working on Stage I of this project, covering the entire East Coast of Australia. For Stage II only two consultants were employed
Endeavour Foundation is a non-profit organization, established in 1951 and providing support to people with an intelectual disability. They provide Residences, Learning and Leisure Centers and Factories allowing people to learn new skills, live independently, socialise and make new friends or finding a suitable job.
I was astounded when confronted with the enormity of the services this company provides to people with disabilities. Only then I realised that we do not see in Australia people with disabilities begging on the streets or abandoned by the society, things very common in countries where I lived and visited in Africa, Europe, Asia and America.
The work was not demanding technicaly, but the environment where we had to do the work was sometimes confronting. In the two stages of this project I made over 90 audits and I finished having nothing but praise to the Endeavour staff that perform their jobs with a high degree of professionalism in very demanding circumstances.
Having managed factories in various industries did not prepare me for what I witnessed at the Endeavour factories. In first place they perform very basic tasks but to manage the operations with the special workforce they have, requires constant attention to safety and an unbelieveable patience.
After 4 months of continuous work I was tired and ready to finish. However I relished the experience and will forever be grateful to Endeavour Foundation for the service they provide to the less fortunate of our society
On the Photographic Records page you can see some photos of the places I visited and had time to click away. In other cases the visits were so brief that I missed the opportunity to take photos.
