The cafe where love is the main ingredient
A former Wall Street banker is providing assistance to AIDS orphans from China’s rural regions. Zhou Wenting reports from Shanghai
We cannot control what people think about us, but we have to live with our heads held high.” To Chung, owner of the Village 127 French Bakery and Cafe in Shanghai
The Village 127 French Bakery and Cafe in downtown Shanghai had been operating in an understated way for about a year and a half before a media report sparked a storm of unfavorable comments from members of the public.
The report, published by the Shanghai Observer on Dec 1, WorldAIDSDay,wasintended to combat HIV/AIDS-related stigma. It explained that most of the cafe’s employees had been born to families affected by HIV/AIDS in the inland provinces, and stressed that the employees were healthy.
The story also featured heartbreaking accounts of how the “AIDS orphans” lived with the stigma of their parents’ illness.
The cafe’s owner, To Chung, said he had never deliberately concealed his employees’ sad stories; he just didn’t want them to be labeled as dangers to society.
“I hope the quality of the bread is the first draw for customers to our cafe and bakery, and in addition, some may want to show support after learning about our charitable activities,” said the Hong Kong native and former Wall Street banker.
However, in the wake of the report, the bakery was bombarded with mixed feedback and business declined.
Heads held high
“HIV/AIDS is less of a medical problem in China nowadays, but people who are AIDS-impacted, irrespective of whether they or their parents are HIV-positive, are still stigmatized. We cannot control what people think about us, but we have to live with our heads held high,” To said.
The cafe, located on West Nanjing Road, sells French bread, coffee and simple set meals. The main objective is listed on the wall: all of the profits go to the Chi Heng Foundation which helps AIDS orphans in rural areas, most of them orphaned in the 1990s when their parents died after beinginfectedviatransfusions of contaminated blood.
Chi Heng, or “wisdom in action”, is registered as a charity in Hong Kong, and since 2002, it has helped more than 20,000 students from HIV/ AIDS-affected families.
The cafe, a social enterprise initiated by the foundation, is named for the 127 children who made up the first group of AIDS orphans to receive an education in the first year of Chi Heng’s charitable work.
Shen Jie, who works nearby, said she and her colleagues have dubbed it “the cafe of love” and visit often.
“The food rarely differs between restaurants, but the stories behind their food are very different, so I’ll continue to support this great project,” she said.
Zhang Jing, a barista, said many of the customers were regular visitors, but new faces used to appear every day, drawn by the cafe’s food and charitable activities.
The situation changed after the Shanghai Observer report. Yu Fengjiang, a manager at the cafe, said thousands of negative comments appeared online and members of staff were plagued by threatening phone calls. People even visited to complain about the cafe’s existence.
“In terms of revenue, we made about 5,000 yuan ($719) a day before (the report), but now it’s around 3,000 yuan. We used to sell 40 to 50 set lunches a day, but the number has fallen to 30 or fewer. The fact that AIDS-impacted orphans work here leaves a shadow in some people’s minds, although our workers don’t have HIV/AIDS,” Yu said.
Blood money
Inthe1990s,manypeoplein the rural regions of some central provinces sold their blood for profit. “What they earned by selling their blood once was almost equivalent to a month’s income,” according to a 2008 report in the Global Times.
The blood was sold to biotech companies, which manufactured products such as albumin. However, the companies only wanted the plasma, and once that was siphoned off, the blood cells were reinfused into the donors’ bodies.
Tens of thousands of people were infected as a result of insecure practices, such as mixing samples from different people — some with HIV/AIDS — in the same containers. The problem was exacerbated by a lack of sterilization procedures, which resulted in the recycling and reuse of needles, blood bags and other equipment that came into contact with samples.
Although the practice was halted in the mid-90s, many people are still living with the repercussions.
For example, 1,300 of the 3,200 residents of Shangcai county, Henan province, sold blood to the stations regularly, leading to about 45 percent becoming infected with HIV.
By last year, 31 people in the county had died as a result of AIDS or related illnesses, and a further 280 were in a critical condition, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Health.
News of the outbreak resulted in people in the affected areas being shunned. “The doctors and nurses who went to help the locals changed on analmostdailybasis,andeven vendors of vegetables, seeds and food have steered clear of these areas ever since,” according to a China Central Television report.
The Shanghai Observer’s report featured “Diudiu”, a 19-year-old boy, who was sent to an orphanage at age 10 after his mother died from AIDS. His father had died from the disease eight years earlier.
“All the neighbors, and even my uncles, shunned me as if I carried a vast plague,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the 50-plus children who began their lives at the orphanage around that time were all AIDS orphans.
Xiao Xu, a Shanghai native, said the AIDS stigma mainly results from a fear of infectious diseases, although public health education in the past two decades has stressed that HIV can only transmitted three ways: sexual activity, blood transfusions and mother-to-child transmission.
“The stigma is also associated with prejudice against homosexuals,” she said.
Psychological barriers
Since 2003, the government has provided free antiviral treatment for HIV-positive people, and has also provided allowances for low-income families and AIDS orphans up to the age of 18.
To, founder and chairman of the Chi Heng Foundation, doesn’t think the allowance is enough to guarantee the children’s education, adding that what they need most is psychological care.
“When people can conquer psychological barriers and believe in themselves, they’ll find a way out by themselves,” he said.
“But when I talk with the children and ask which university they want to attend in the future, they typically reply that university education is not for people like them. I want to give them the chance to change their minds.”
In 2009, the foundation launched the Young Bakers program in Shanghai. It provides a year’s free training in French baking, plus free lodgings and meals for 30 young people from rural China, most of them from AIDS-affected families.
The project, which costs nearly 2 million yuan a year, is intended to make it easier for the orphans to find work.
“We’re delighted that many of our students receive multiple job offers upon graduation and have prosperous futures,” To said.
Some of the graduates now work at Village 127. “Collectively, they had around 20 years’ work experience in fivestar hotels in Shanghai — such as the Four Seasons, the Grand Hyatt, the Sheraton and the Hilton — before we started the cafe,” To said.
After learning about the outlet’s charitable background, Lu Cheming, from Taiwan, said he will show more support.
“The cafe is a big, brave, but difficult, step forward in the fight against HIV/AIDS stigma in China,” he said.