A bite full of hope
A tale of triumph and challenge: ‘Piping’ the delicious cookies. Pix by Indika Handuwala
It is midday and ‘Happy birthday’ is being sung with gusto for R.K. Prakash who has just turned 27. There is cake on the table but what overwhelms is the tantalising odour of cookies baking at an upstair kitchen off the Avissawella Road at Ranala.
The mouth-watering cookies produced here are many, ranging from the usual but delicious to the exotic…. ‘Butter Cookies’ and ‘Chocolate Chip Cookies’ to ‘Coconut Crumbles’, ‘Sesame Cookies’, ‘Peanut Cookies’ and ‘Cashew Cookies’.
As much as the cookies are “out of the ordinary”, those weighing the ingredients, mixing the dough, piping, baking (what they call “ovening”), packing and sealing the finished products are also extraordinary.
‘Sahan Sevana’ is not a run-of-the-mill factory of the Ceylon Biscuits Group (better known as Munchee) but an innovative workplace currently employing 11 intellectually-challenged men and four women between 18 and 30 years of age to produce the ‘Hope’ brand which can “bite” up to any international rival.
The tale behind the ‘Hope’ cookies is one of challenge and triumph that began two years ago in 2010.
“Our aims are to make a social change through a paradigm shift among the people about how they look at those with intellectual disabilities, while also making Sahan Sevana a self-sustainable model which other companies can follow,” says Sahan Sevana’s Chief Operating Officer and Director Thusitha Perera.
It was when a Japanese-run non-governmental organisation which was attempting to make a group of intellectually-disabled people employable through a project at Meepe wound up due to non-sustainability that the Munchee Group decided to launch a new but sustainable project with their own products and recipes. The link between the two projects was Takako, wife of Group Director Susantha Gunawardene who had been volunteering at Meepe.
Thusitha and Takako came up with a proposal to convince the Munchee management that Sahan Sevana was workable as well as sustainable, for Takako had seen how the intellectually-disabled were “so capable”.
They trained very well, says Takako who has come up with her very own recipe for the crunchy ‘Coconut Crumbles’ and
Packaging the cookies
spends her days guiding them on a voluntary basis, with Thusitha explaining that the employees who in the early days came with their parents now travel alone, doing their own money transactions such as buying tickets on the bus.
People have also responded extremely well, he says, citing instances when bus drivers and conductors wait awhile if these employees are late.
Giving the routine that is adhered to daily, Thusitha says there is a 10-minute exercise session for the employees followed by breakfast before they start work because some of them have many physical issues as well. A briefing follows not only to review the work of the day before but also to decide on what has to be baked that day. The mixing, piping and baking is thereafter until noon, with a break for lunch, after which is done the packaging and sealing and finally the cleaning up so that the kitchen is spick and span for the next day.
In keeping with strict quality controls, cleanliness and hygiene are also reiterated, Thusitha says, commending Production Manager Chamila Gunawardena and Product Assistants Pramilla Silva, Amith Chandrakantha, Manoj Wijesinghe and Surekha Chandani for a “marvellous job” not only in producing the cookies but also guiding the employees.
With the employees working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., breakfast, lunch and tea are provided by the company free of charge. This is not all. Each employee’s birthday is celebrated with a ‘Happy birthday’, cake and gift provided by the company; all take home the ‘basket of goodies’ under the ‘Welfare products issue’ that Munchee employees are entitled to; get free uniforms and also get to see the doctor regularly for their medical concerns.
Takako
With a take-home salary of about Rs. 8,500, capped, masked and aproned 26-year-old Kosala Kumari pauses during her duties of packing the cookies to say that she buys clothes with her earnings.
For, ‘birthday boy’ Prakash who lives with his mother and aunt who is disabled, the salary keeps the home fires burning. Just last month, his mother who makes ends meet by giving tuition was ill, so it was Prakash’s earnings which saw them through, putting rice and curry on the table. This is well and truly in keeping with the employees’ motto: “We work, we earn and we take care of our family.”
With the employees having savings in the form of the Employees’ Provident Fund and Trust Fund, there are also the little touches that the company has looked into like taking them shopping to buy gifts “with their money” for their parents and brothers and sisters during the Aluth Avuruddha.
It was with a little trepidation, however, that the company organised the first dan sala by these employees at Vesak. “Usually people look at the disabled with sympathy and give them daana. How would they react to intellectually-disabled people offering them food and drink instead,” asks Thusitha. But the company had no cause for concern – loads and loads of biscuits and drinks distributed by the employees of Sahan Sevana were so popular that they held the dansala once again for the second year.
While the employees are taken to a nearby school for recreation and confidence-building, it has also helped change the perception of the children about the intellectually-disabled, Thusitha says, “an interaction that has worked very well”. Part of the Munchee family, they have regular religious activities, an annual concert where they showcase their talents, an annual trip and New Year celebrations in the traditional style.
Thusitha
Not satisfied with selling these “hand-crafted confections” only through supermarkets, Takako who is the “ambassador” for these products is always on the lookout for more outlets to bring in a higher income to the employees.
With the proof of the pudding, nay the cookie, being in the eating, those seeking employment is evidence that this model is working and working well.
As Sahan Sevana begins to make profits, Thusitha’s dream is to make it a model industry which others can follow by adapting to suit their needs without cornering the intellectually-disabled but empowering and making them independent. “What they need is empathy and not sympathy,” he reiterates.
Society too can make their own contribution by buying the ‘Hope’ cookies.
While Sahan Sevana gives a helping hand to the intellectually-disabled, a necessity, according to both Thusitha and Takako, is a strong support system, like group homes, for them to fall back on once their parents are no more.
“What will happen to our children when we die,” is a worry that all parents will take to their grave, unless urgent measures are implemented to bring about a good support system, Takako says.
This is the worry Thusitha and Takako have, while through Sahan Sevana they are hoping to set off the ripple effect which will grow until all people with disabilities get a place in the sun in Sri Lanka.
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