Who am I

My name is Dirk Bischof. I have always dreamt of going to Japan since I first read about Samurais, Shoguns, Ninjas, Tea Ceremony and the culture of Japan itself at the age of 16. My general interests are cycling (you might have guessed), snowboarding, martial arts, chess and being around people who live inspiring lives whereby inspiring others to do the same.

I was born in Germany and I came to London to study and to work in another country. Through Embrace Cooperation I did a 3-months work placement project in 2001, which made me see the opportunities in the UK. In Germany I was unemployed after my apprenticeship in metal engineering and not sure really what to do with my life. I had the option of working in my fathers metal engineering company but I really did not want to do this as I had absolutely no interest in workin with machinery and metall (especially after 3 1/2 years of apprenticeship).

After the placement in London at Cricklewood Homeless Concern and having lived in the UK for 3 months I decided to move here. Since then I helped to organise placements for others coming through Embrace as project coordinator. In 2004, Embrace was set-up to be a not-for-profit, limited company and I was ‘made’ managing director, a big challenge but also a big opportunity. In the meantime I was able to do my degrees in Business Studies and Social Anthropology which I would not be able to do in Germany as the system there is too rigid and doesn’t allow for as much freedom to work and study at the same time.

Everything has evolved since then, Embrace now hosts and sends over 150 young adults per year for national/ international work placements and cultural exchanges and we do various projects within the Media, Environment and Social Enterprise. I am passionate to support others who, like me, were unemployed, face challenges in their life, don’t know what to do with it or who just need some inspiration and guidance to discover their LifeDreams – those dreams which will lead to long-term happiness and which will create a better world for the self and other people. Our current projects involve setting up our charitable arm in Ethiopia together with our colleagues and friends over there. Ethiopia really is a magical country and I have been fortunate to visit it in 2008 where we met with many local charitable organisations to plan our strategy with. Its also always a pleasure to meet our director Eskender Kassa (picture right) to have insightful debates about the meaning of life and how to make this life worth living for everyone we encounter.

Now, at 29 years old, one of my greatest LifeDreams will finally become reality. As a person who likes to make the best of every opportunity, I would like to connect this LifeDream with another one which is very close to my heart: Supporting young adults to plan and realise their professional LifeDreams. How does all this fit in with my journey to Japan you might ask? Well, with your financial support Embrace will start a fund, which supports young adults to realise their LifeDreams in a meaningful way. This is my other big LifeDream: to support young adults with their business ideas and projects. A lot of people that are with Embrace have great ideas and I would like to support them to plan and implement their business ideas as these are their LifeDreams.