Baking Hope: A bakery with a difference

Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 18  

When you enter a cafe, a restaurant or a Bakery, what is the first thing that grabs your attention captivates your senses and enlightens your mood? It is the endless space of well decorated interior, the aroma of freshly cooked foods and the hospitality of the inmates.  

Hope Cafe and Bakery may conjure up various notions and conceptions. However, the one thing that strikes the most is the infallible hospitality of the inmates and it's passion to go beyond the prospects of making profits.  

Located at Duncan Basti, opposite Duncan Ao Baptist Church, this pristine cafe is an oasis of repose amidst the chaotic streets surrounding it. An initiative of Eden Enterprise and Ministry (EE&M), Hope Cafe and Bakery has a staff of seven employees, including four zealous and differently skilled staff.  

Talking to Morung Express in the ‘Green Room’ of the Cafe, Rev. Achu Chang, the founding father and managing director of EE&M, reminisces his yester years and shared the struggles he faced while investing his time, money and energy to training young and differently abled Naga youths so that they can develop skills required for their daily sustenance.  

“When I started this, I had to share even my salary for all the trainings. And there were times when I could not give what my two kids even wanted”, he added.  

Eden Enterprise and Ministry concentrates not only on the differently abled but on the Nagas entirely. They provide full sponsorship to the trainees and have also undertaken several Naga youths under its wing in a quest to reform unemployment by making them the owners of their own business unattached to EE&M. The Enterprise is also the main supplier of Platina Self-Watering pots in the entire Northeast. Another investment of the Enterprise is the Potato Mixture, a product of Budhani Bros.  

Rev. Chang returned after working with the youths for 17 years in Pune. He stated that most of the youths today are in dilemma over pursuing a government job as a result of the recurring political imbroglios in the state. He later on enunciated the ambition of the Enterprise to expand its cafe business in other districts of the state and create 2000 jobs in the next 5 years to curb unemployment rate in the state. He aims to convert the cafe into a training ground and by 2018 would undertake trainers from across the globe.  

The name Hope itself hyperbolically gives immense hope to the people, therefore, Rev. Chang explained that the proprietary rights of the cafe would transfer from the ministry to the trainees and would continue on. “And if the trainee wishes to branch out and set up a cafe of his own, the existing team would manage those new cafes for them,” he said.  

Hope Cafe presents an array of snacks and organic beverages. Cleanliness and tranquility has been the main priority of the cafe. The cafe does not compromise in terms of serving healthy food with skyrocketing prices thus the prices are set minimal and with the best interest of the customers.  

A retro beaded bracelet which personifies several aspects of Christianity, from sin entering the world to a heaven created for the believers is also given to every customers. Rev. Chang believes that this particular custom of the Cafe will represent Christianity to the visitors in the simplest way.  

The cafe has been divided into three rooms viz., Green Room, Blue Room and Black Room, with an extra addition of the kids section and a conference room. The naming and numbering of the rooms in this manner assists the staffs in understanding where they should place orders.  

The interior design is simply placid and serene. A picture describing different hand gestures used for communicating and Bible verses imprinted on the walls with beautiful illustrations adorn the walls of the Cafe.  

Rev. Chang insists that Hope Cafe is not just a place for having good coffee. “It's a place where people can get to be a part of their World and accept them as they are.”  

A Facebook page has also been created to help connect with people.