Have You Been to Coffee Shrub, Maldives’ First Inclusive Cafe’ Yet?
The Coffee Shrub, Maldives' first-ever inclusive cafe' is waiting to serve you. Located within Male' Grand on Majeedhee Magu, this quaint little cafe' offers a range of delicious drinks and small eats, with a menu developed in sign language as well.
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The Coffee Shrub is a café that was opened in Male’, Maldives, in March 2020 by three young entrepreneurs. Their goal was to serve specialty coffee and delicious home-made pastries. During its set up and early days, the Coffee Shrub team had the unique opportunity to partner with Team ‘Silent Coffee’, second place winner of Miyaheli 2019, a social camp, to pilot the concept of a ‘silent café’ at the Coffee Shrub.
As part of this collaboration, 3 baristas who are hearing impaired, were trained and given the opportunity to work at the Coffee Shrub for a period of 4 months. The café’s menu has been developed in sign language.
Months of collaboration between the two teams resulted in the launching of the Coffee Shrub as the first-ever inclusive café in the Maldives in November 2020.
Through continued employment of hearing-impaired persons, the Coffee Shrub strives to raise awareness for deaf culture, sign language, and the challenges faced by hearing-impaired people in participating in society and in having access to basic rights. The Coffee Shrub further wishes to raise awareness of the need for employers in both the private and public sectors to offer training and job opportunities to hearing-impaired people and create an inclusive culture within our community.
