Bar owner Nguyen Ho Chau Linh has been teaching at Orchid School for mentally impaired children for 14 years. She said that she wants to do something to help these children after they graduate from the school.

“The children leave the school when they are 16 and I wonder what they will do next. I think I should do something to generate jobs for them,” said Linh.

Chau Linh decided to open the Sun Flower to help young people with disabilities integrate into society. Along with savings of VND30 million, she borrowed VND100 million from the bank to open that small coffee bar to realise her plan.

To start with, she chose seven mentally impaired children and taught them to say simple sentences such as “Hello, can I help you?” She spent weeks teaching them recognise furniture so they would not collide with tables and chairs while walking around.

Tables are marked with different kinds of fruit because the children cannot remember the alphabets and numbers. Customers and waiters communicate by signals as many waiters cannot speak a complete sentence.

At first, customers were surprised by the strange way of service, but they have gradually got used to it. Not a few customers shared sympathy with the children by voluntarily coming to help them when they were free.

“I did not know how to order at first, but then the children gave me a menu, in which I marked the drink I want. I think it’s a creative service idea,” said Nguyen Thi Thuy Anh, a regular customer. “I’ve met bar owner Chau Linh and I’ve decided to come here more often to help something in my free time.”

After working hours at the bar, the young disabled people return home and enjoy normal lives like others. The money they earn is not much, but most importantly they enjoy working and integrating into the community to make friends with others.