We have a beautiful tale of female empowerment from the WRAPS program. Read on for a special story from the WRAPS Cafe last fall!! Here's what project founder and leader Allison Karnes shared in a newsletter for donors and supporters:
"Ethiopia is known for its coffee and particularly its unique macchiato. It has been our dream to serve our customers the traditional Ethiopian macchiato in our cafe. But, alas, the macchiato machine is formidably expensive ($6,000) and we could not see that our profits would offset the purchase of the machine. But God had another solution.
One day a customer finished a tasty lunch at our cafe and ordered a macchiato. Our server sadly informed him that we did not have a machine. He asked, "Why?" She responded, "The machine is just too expensive." This man later shared that he had a practically new machine he wanted to donate to the cafe!
That remarkable donation set in motion our newest dream come true. But it's not that easy to just set up a macchiato machine and begin to serve customers. First, we had to decide just where to put the machine. Everyone had an opinion. After much debate back and forth, we decided on the floor of the cafe and not the kitchen. Because it would not be technically 'locked up inside' we had to first build another iron gate at the back entrance. Next, we had to construct the wooden counter and purchase granite countertops. Our hospital plumber and electrician pitched in to do the tedious installations. Macchiato machines have to be plumbed and specially wired. Who knew?
Finally, we had to send one of our workers to train in a local restaurant. More than once we heard this comment: 'Women cannot make macchiatos! Only men can do that job.' Well, those are marching orders for the women at WRAPS. We trained our worker at a local restaurant with their male barista. We agree it is definitely challenging to make excellent macchiatos.
But, guess what? This week we began serving macchiatos in the hospital cafe."
We just LOVE this story!!! Go WRAPS!