I have many dreams. Let me tell you about one of them:
I want to open a coffee shop with a library. In this coffee shop all the workers, girls and boys, will come from my orphanage, Snehasadan. For 50 years, Snehasadan has offered shelter and vocational training to homeless children in Bombay, children actually from all over India. About 40,000 kids have been through Snehasadan in that time.
In my coffee shop, the workers won’t just be workers. We will also look after them. There are many children who struggle to cope with their lives. Some of them have trained to be carpenters or welders, drivers or electricians. So there will be a special board at the coffee shop, and when someone comes in and asks for a carpenter or an electrician or whatever, they will find the phone numbers of these children-turned-professionals on the board. I will also work with artists and fashion designers from Snehasadan. I’ve already asked some of the children I know there. They’ll be able to display their work in my coffee shop, whether t-shirts, bags, dresses, paintings or whatever it might be. Whatever they sell will be theirs. So they can be their own bosses; they don’t need to sell their talents to someone else who’ll profit from them.
My coffee shop will emphasize quality in what we offer, but it will also have messages to offer. I’m concerned about inequality among people, and I want my shop to make a statement about that. I’m also concerned about the environment. My customers will enjoy their coffee and snacks, and their books from the library, in the midst of flowers and plants. There will also be a donation box for Snehasadan. Because when the kids leave there, I don’t want them to go back on the street. They need support and help to start a new life, to buy a house.
Sometimes I feel there is no value for human beings in this country. If my coffee shop is successful, I will be able to help some of our children.
