In Mallorca, the word esment means to take care of, and attend to someone, to pay attention to them with a certain amount of pampering. The truth is that we cannot think of a more suitable word to describe the work that Esment has been doing for and with people with support needs and their families since 1962.
The association was established, like so many others, from a shared need. Several families in Mallorca with a member with an intellectual disability did not have, at that time, either a specific support or a place where they could enjoy leisure time. At that time, they decided to join forces to promote activities aimed at these people. However, a decade later, Esment -formerly Amadip- had already begun a path of amazing evolution that would cover many more areas and so many other user profiles. A path that is still being traced today.
This constant transformation in which Esment is immersed, in reality, is nothing more than a response to the demands of society. A response that is fueled by a vocation to ensure the common good and the welfare of people. As Aliccia García Serrano, the head of the communication department who welcomes us at Casa Esment, explains, "at the beginning, the profiles we served were people with intellectual disabilities from 16 years of age, but now we accompany people with other support needs, from childhood to old age. A whole life.
"If there is one thing we are proud of, it is the synergies we have created with users, with other associations, with our clients and, of course, with families."
A lifetime because at Esment they have the gift of detecting needs and setting the machinery in motion to meet them. This is how the project has expanded and expanded, and we would never stop listing milestones: in 1991 they offered training courses for the first time, and in 1996 they opened their first café in Es Pes de sa Palla square (they now have five establishments). In 2008, it opened the doors of the first homes for the elderly; in 2014, Esment Escuela Profesional was established and in 2019, Esment Infància. And so on to the present day. Last year, Esment opened a café in Inca and started a dual training program for people with special needs in the Raiguer region.
"If there is one thing we are proud of, it is the synergies we have created with the users, with other associations, with our clients and, of course, with the families," confesses García Serrano. Yes, there is a certain air of familiarity here, between users and workers, but the ties go far beyond that. For all these projects to work, the collaboration and commitment of those involved is vital and, at Esment, the network of committed people is immense. Users, families, customers, clients, employees - currently 900 - all form part of a community that feeds off each other like a perfect circle that is always in motion.
A good example of this is the commercial activity, which was established in the eighties with the aim of promoting the labor insertion of people with intellectual disabilities. In the restaurant Es Pes de sa Palla, for example, users are trained and work (in the kitchen and dining room), preparing and serving dishes cooked from fresh produce from the garden that has been grown and harvested, in turn, by other users who are trained in agricultural activity. In addition, the food is also served to take away and wrapped in packages prepared in Esment's printing plant.
The print shop, which we have the opportunity to see first-hand, was created more than forty years ago and was Esment's first commercial project. It brings together training and employment, technology and craftsmanship, workers and users, to offer graphic arts services to customers from very different sectors. The idea is that students go through the different work processes to acquire skills throughout the chain and, of course, adapt each link to the profile of the person being trained. Insertion, professionalism and a very close relationship with the customer are the premises that set the pace in the workshop.
"We like to know that our customers come to us because of the quality of what we offer and because they know they are helping to further the work we do.”
Customers, for their part, are a fundamental part of this constant exchange of value. In addition to restaurant diners, companies come to Esment in search of a Christmas basket -which they make with their own products- or to print corporate materials and even to hold events -accompanied by catering prepared and served by the users- in one of its multidisciplinary rooms overlooking the countryside. "We like to know that they come to us because of the quality of what we offer and because they know that in this way, they are helping to further promote the work we do," Aliccia tells us.
As we walk through the facilities of Casa Esment, one of their latest projects, numerous students are working in the vegetable garden. Some are sowing. Others tend the aromatic plants. Some rest under the shade of a tree. As García Serrano explains in a conversation that could last for hours because we are constantly amazed by both what we hear and what we see, "we evaluate each profile in detail with our entire team of professionals, because each person is different. Some users can spend hours in the greenhouse and others need more breaks and specific tasks. Each activity is adapted to each person.”
And yes, this is also tenir esment (Majorcan expression): caring for the needs of others, empathizing, listening, accompanying. Beautiful words for a society in which we all have a place and opportunities. Beautiful words that are demonstrated here with actions.