PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) has opened up employment opportunities for the disabled community at the Selera Jemari Cafe located on Level 2 of the ministry’s building here.
The cafe’s coordinator, Amir Adam Malik said operations began in August last year, and there were currently eight disabled persons working there, one with a physical disability, and the rest deaf.
Speaking to reporters recently, Amir Adam said all the staff aged between 18 and 26 had undergone training in preparing of food, purchase of raw materials, food logistics and food and other beverage-related processes.
“Most of the food is processed and prepared at the central kitchen in Puchong, while other cuisines such as western food and afternoon snacks are made at the cafe itself. We want these people to gain experience and have the confidence to be able to be self-reliant, or even their own cafes” he said.
The Selera Jemari Cafe which operates from 7 am to 4 pm, Monday to Friday sells a variety of local delicacies and among the popular dishes are the Kapitan curry mee, soto, chicken chop, bone soup and goat curry.
Amir said patronage had increased as the public began to know about the cafe and the delicious food items offered through word of mouth as well as promotions on social media.
Meanwhile, Siti Nursyafiqah Jusoh @ Shaari, 26, from Pasir Mas, Kelantan who suffers from loss of hearing in her right ear said she worked as a cashier, and was also involved in training and providing guidance to other staff.
“At first, it was a bit difficult, but after teaching them how to handle the kitchen, how to cook rice, to make bread (they got a hang of it). I told them (the waiters) that if people did not understand them, they could communicate through a written menu or use simple sign language.
“We also provide a sign language guide at each outlet to facilitate customers to engage with the staff. Now, we see that even customers want to use sign language to interact,“ she said, adding that her ambition was to open her own restaurant in the future.
She said the cafe served about 200 customers daily and accepted take-away or catering requests.
Kamarulzzam Ismail, 22, of Kedah, who has a hearing problem, said he enjoyed preparing drinks at the cafe as he had many friends there and received prior training from the Selayang Community College. — Bernama
