A coffee shop in Cape Town is doing its bit to bring about social change by hiring deaf or hearing impaired people and trains them as world-class baristas.
And not only do the baristas learn how to make the perfect brew, customers pick up some sign language skills.
Gary Hopkins who owns I LOVE COFFEE hires deaf baristas and trains them to run a shop, which they may later own. Some baristas get trained as chefs.
“I came to understand the challenges facing the deaf community and that really strike a chord with me, mainly because their language is not recognised as an official language,” he says.
When he started thinking of simple ways to break communication barriers which exist between deaf community and the rest of the society, a beloved hot drink came to mind.
CGTN’s Travers Andrews went to check it out.
