BENGALURU: If earning with dignity while being disabled was an option, Bengaluru’s cafes are setting the right example. With the Covid-19 crisis looming large, cafes that have employed disabled people, are holding their ground with new operations and collaborations. Mitti Cafe, a non-profit organisation that has a chain of inclusive cafes run by a team of people with disabilities, had to shut their cafes at multinational companies due to the Covid-19 crisis. “Since many employees opt to work from home, we had to close our operations in multinational corporations.
However, we have opened a cafe in a cancer speciality hospital in Yelahanka and are running two public cafes, one each in Koramangala and Jayanagar. This has again opened a window of dreams for our employees with developmental disabilities to earn with dignity,” says Alina Alam, founder, CEO, Mitti Cafe. Although the pandemic forced them to shut shop, their new initiative, Karuna Meals, that started in March 2020, has served 13 lakh meals to people with disabilities, garment workers and other vulnerable classes in Bengaluru and in Kolkata so far.
“From cooking to distributing the meals, everything is managed by people with disabilities,” adds Alam. Lakshmi P, a single mother with visual and hearing impairment, works at the Kormangala branch despite the risk of contracting the virus. This also holds true for Bhyrappa and Roopa. The couple, diagnosed with dwarfism and motor disabilities, train employees in customer and floor management. Pragathi Towards Livelihood, the vocational training wing of Biswagouri Charitable Trust, has given nearly 45 trainee-students an opportunity to work in the backend kitchen of Bissi Bissi Oota, a venture founded by Big Brewsky director Pravesh Pandey. According to the trust’s founder Sarbani Mallick, the students now face logistical difficulties due to the second wave.
“The project’s aim is to empower the differently- abled who are from the lower income strata, especially women. The trainees peel, cut, and wash the vegetables, and are paid based on the day’s work. However, the government’s guidelines have reduced manpower, making it difficult for students to comply. We are now exploring other ways to manage the project,” says Mallick. “Although parents are concerned about the children’s health during the pandemic, we are trying to convince them to be optimistic. These students are very consistent in their work. The objective of the collaboration is to empower them financially,” says Pravesh Pandey.
Similarly, Prakash, manager of Hobbit Cafe, now renamed Dhwani restaurant, which employs people with dwarfism, says the second wave is definitely making it tough for people with disabilities.