Hidden behind an anonymous gate in an affluent neighborhood in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, a social experiment shows how deaf people’s perspectives can be transformed. Pallet Cafe employs deaf employees who have faced discrimination, not just in the business world, and is an example of how integration can work.
Making their way through the tables and pots of lush plants in the bar-garden, the staff take orders using Kenyan sign language, facial expressions or even simple gestures.
Some posters on the walls provide the basics of sign language, but you don’t need to know them in depth to communicate. To ask someone if they want a bottle of cold water from the waiters just mimic the chills, and for customers who don’t know sign language just raise their thumbs up to answer affirmatively. Similarly, when an egg is ordered, the clenched fist gesture can be used to ask the customer if he wants it hard, while joining the tips of the fingers and moving them slightly instead serves to indicate cooking soft-boiled.
Beyond this aspect, the place could easily be mistaken for any other exclusive bar, among people typing on the computer, sipping a latte or enjoying the dishes.
The opportunity to work
Edward Kamande, who joined the staff shortly after the Pallet Cafe opened in 2019, started working as a waiter but has now become a manager. The 26-year-old says the founder, businessman Feisal Hussein, “gave me a chance. He saw something in me ”.
The entrepreneur, a former humanitarian worker, wanted to open a place that, in addition to serving excellent dishes, such as eggs Benedict and shakshuka (a spicy North African egg-based dish), would help people with disabilities enter the world of work. “My intention was to support the deaf community,” he says of his business, which now has three branches. Here alone, in Lavington, more than three-quarters of the employees are deaf or hard of hearing.
Kamande believes he is appreciated for what he is capable of. “There is no discrimination in our company, there is freedom here,” he says. Three years ago, when he joined the team, the young man was shy and nervous, says the boss about him. Today, however, he has become an indispensable figure in the management of the company. He not only organizes the work of the staff but also supervises the budgets and controls the supplies. Kamande loves his work, he says, and is particularly proud whenever customers praise his staff for the level of professionalism and service.
The vast majority of Pallet Cafe employees had never had a job before, so the job changed their lives. At first Hussein was struggling to find new workers to hire but now he doesn’t have to look much because people are constantly leaving their resumes, he says. In fact, the bar has been so successful that other companies have asked if it can help them hire deaf staff.
According to Kamande, the biggest obstacle facing deaf people in Kenya is first and foremost getting the opportunity to enter the world of work. “There are a lot of deaf people who are not given any chance,” she explains. It is estimated that there are at least 600,000 deaf people in the country, and although discrimination against disabled people is prohibited by the constitution, many continue to face huge barriers in accessing health care, education and employment.
A little known reality
Kenyan sign language is not understood by many, and even among public officials there is very little knowledge of it. There are very few sign language interpreters in Kenya and there is no nationally recognized system for registering or verifying qualifications. Also, television should include sign language in its programs, but only a few do.
Kamande can speak to make herself understood, but many of her colleagues are not in the same position. “In our country there is a need for education on this issue,” he says. Recently a friend of his had a bad experience when he was accidentally stopped by the police who asked him to show an identity document: “They threatened to take him to jail. But he couldn’t answer ”. Kamande managed to reach him in time to explain the misunderstanding to the police.
Experiences like this have taught him that deaf people need to help each other because the environment is often hostile. The Pallet Cafe not only gave Kamande a safe space to have a vibrant career, it was also where he fell in love. This is where he met his wife Jacqueline, also deaf, while working as a waitress.
Today they have an 11-month-old baby named Godwin, who is not deaf. Kamande proudly displays her son’s photos on her smartphone. “Thanks to this bar,” he says, “I moved to the next level in life.”
(Translation by Francesco De Lellis)