Varanasi: ‘The Orange Café’ -a venture by a group of acid attack survivors is in the offing in the parliamentary constituency of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Four acid attack survivors from Jaunpur, Bareilly, Rae Bareli and Varanasi districts have joined hands to script a new story of women empowerment and courage by running a café in Durgakund locality of the city. After Lucknow and Agra, it will be the third café in the state run by the acid scarred women.
“We have given it the name Orange -that symbolizes UNESCO’s ‘Orange the World’ Campaign against all forms of violence against women,” said Ajay Patel, the brain behind the venture. Patel is the founder of Red Brigade, which has been working for the cause of women. “We also got support from Action Aid, India to go ahead with this project,” said Patel.
It was not an easy task for Patel to find out the acid survivors and motivate them to run their own venture. “It took more than two years to find out these women living in despair,” he said adding, “After the search of these women another task was to select a suitable site for the venture. We got a space in Durgakund area on Cantt-BHU Road”. The décor of the café is almost ready with the help of the Faculty of Visual Arts of Banaras Hindu University, he said.
“Though two more such cafés came into existence exist Lucknow and Agra, but this one is completely different from them,” said Patel adding that the acid survivors worked as employees in those cafes, but here they would be the owners.
All four women have been trained how to take orders, serve food and manage the cash counters. Since their skin cannot be exposed to fire or heat, they would not work in kitchen. Initially the café would be supported financially by the Red Brigade and Action Aid for few months till it starts earning profit. The profit will be shared by these women.
