Sunshine Cafe, a social cafe-bakery, where people with mental disabilities work, was opened last year on the premises of Metro shopping center in Kyiv.
The idea belongs to the founder of the NGO “Sunny People” Alina Zhivago, who has a daughter Anastasia with Down syndrome. “There are only two vocational schools in Kyiv that accept young people with mental disorders” – says Alina. Anastasia studied in one of such schools and that is where Alina met the other members of the team.
According to Alina, more than 400 children with Down syndrome are born every year. In total, 17,000 adults with this syndrome live in Ukraine, and “90% of them are unemployed.” Employers are afraid to hire such people, because they do not understand the specifics of communication and treatment with them, do not know how to work with them. Parents of adults with mental disorders do not have time for their work and for themselves, as they are constantly forced to deal with their children.
Part of the bread baked by the team is given free of charge to the people in need, as well as to the Territorial Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This year, the team have planned to open a second cafe and employ 4-8 people with disabilities (there are 7 employees with disabilities working in the first cafe). They already found and negotiated the premises and are now buying the equipment with the grant from SCUK/Civic.
