KATHMANDU: The Maiti Cafe in Kathmandu is seeking to change the lives of trafficking survivors – one cappuccino at a time.
The Cafe is the first to be staffed by women who are either at risk of or have been rescued from slavery in Nepal, where thousands of people are trafficked every year, many to neighboring India.
Among the new waitresses taking orders and serving the cafe’s signature steamed buns is Preeti – not her real name – whose family disowned her after she was rescued from a brothel in India, and who now wants to leave the past behind.
“I don’t want to look back at that dark part of my life,” Preeti, 26, said. “I’m looking forward to building my skills and confidence in what I am doing now.”
Preeti is one of 11 women working as chefs, cashiers, baristas, and waitresses and earning about 13,880 Nepali rupees ($120) a month, a modest but manageable wage in a country where one in five lives on less than $1.25 a day.
More than 23,000 people were trafficked in Nepal in 2016, according to the latest available data from the National Human Rights Commission, double the figure for the previous year.
Experts have attributed the rise to an earthquake in April 2015 that killed about 9,000 people and left many more homeless.
The cafe is a social enterprise – a business that aims to do good as well as make a profit.
It was set up by local anti-trafficking charity Maiti Nepal with A’fno Nepal, an organization that promotes social entrepreneurship, and Dutch organization Free a Girl, which works to free victims of forced prostitution.
Customers seem to have no such reservations – since it opened on Aug. 3, Maiti Cafe has attracted up to 150 customers a day.
With its freshly brewed coffee, chicken sizzlers, and steamed dumplings, the cafe has earned a nearly four-star rating on Google reviews, with scores of comments praising the service.
“It makes no difference to us what these women did in the past,” said Sunil Bhatta, a 22-year-old college student, as he dined at the cafe.
“They are well-mannered, polite and hard working. It’s good they are running the cafe and making a living for themselves.”
The cafe plans to increase the number of staff to 15 over the next year and Maiti Nepal’s chairman Bishwa Ram Khadka said the profits would be used to provide further training in sales, accounting, and cooking.
“This is an example of how social and business enterprises can help underprivileged people sustain their lives financially and empower them,” he said.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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