A food chain outlet on The Mall has deaf and dumb persons on the staff but that is no handicap. It rather attracts people to it:
December 21, 2008
By Sajid Bashir
LAHORE: Living in deafening silence forever, oblivious to the natural norm of e
xpression, Bilal Ahmad has fought his way through life, surviving in the competitive world where even the ones whom nature has blessed way more than him, face a torrid life. In the prevailing socio-economic circumstances, in a society which is becoming unforgiving and unrewarding with every passing year, Bilal has refused to live a distorted life.
Bilal, who is deaf and dumb, had not thought that one day he would do a job in a multinational food restaurant KFC.
The multinational food restaurant on The Mall next to Dayal Singh mansion is being run by 23 deaf and dumb persons including 20 boys and 3 girls. It is the only food restaurant in the metropolis that is being operated by deaf and dumb persons.
All the 23 special people are running this KFC restaurant in an excellent manner. They have been working here for the last two years like normal persons, serving in the same capacity in other restaurants. Majority of the customers particularly come to this Mall Road, KFC branch to see these brave hearts who prefer to face the challenges of life instead of choosing a distorted way of living.
One of them, the cashier counter in-charge, Nabila says that it has been the aim of her life to do a respectable job so that nobody feels pity for her. Well, you may question how did she talk to me. We communicated through writing because I do not know their sign language and she cannot speak like us.
Customer Relation Officer KFC Sana Naz said that this KFC branch is under the Cupola, Pakistan Ltd. banner. Cupola recruited candidates from several deaf institutes across Pakistan and provided them with specialised training. She said all these 23 are from the government supported institution for the deaf and dumb, Gung Mahal. All of them have done their F.A.
The work environment of this branch has been created to suit the deaf, with innovations such as using light bulbs in place of bells along with illustrative point and order menu cards.
This KFC branch manager Nida told TNS that there are now 3 KFC outlets in Pakistan run primarily by the Deaf: 1 in Karachi in Gulshan Iqbal, a 2nd in Lahore on the Mall Road, and a 3rd in Rawalpindi. Each restaurant is staffed by the deaf, with one hearing manager on duty for customer assistance.
The manager pointed out that because of their nature of work, IT companies in Pakistan are ideally placed to offer meaningful employment to the disabled.
A customer Sufyan Saleem while appreciating said, "KFC and Cupola and all those involved have done excellent work". He said that he wants to congratulate the KFC management on their noble attempt to give jobs to such special persons. He said if he will ever have his own office he will surely give job opportunities to these brave people. He said a common man should get a lesson from these deaf and dumb persons who live with dignity and strive for excellence. He urged the other organisations and institutions to give job opportunities to such people.
Another customer Faizan Qazi, an electrical engineer, said that if someone wants to see a place like heaven he or she must come to this place where silence and eyes work instead of tongue and ears. He said it is not difficult for any one to deal with these innocent persons. Faizan said he used to come to this place two or three times in a month because whenever he felt disappointment in his work he would come here and after watching these silent persons who are facing this cruel world with patience, he got new hope and courage to overcome his disappointment.
A teacher at the deaf and dumb school and college told TNS that the KFC's policy is very good and other private organisations should follow it. It is better social service for the society. He said he and his colleagues usually try to help their students in their personal capacity but success of these efforts depend upon luck. "Only few students are lucky to find useful jobs with respectable pay, generally such people are given manual labour or domestic work," he said.
While talking to TNS, Secretary Special Education Maqbool Ahmad Khan said that government is making arrangements for better future of deaf and dumb children. He said immediate and effective measures are being taken for their educational and professional training. Government is doing its best to provide better educational and professional opportunities to these deaf and dumb children. On a query about the KFC branch where all the staff is deaf and dumb with the exception of one, he said that KFC's attempt to facilitate these special persons is really appreciable and other people in the private sector as well as the government sector should provide job opportunities to such special persons.
xpression, Bilal Ahmad has fought his way through life, surviving in the competitive world where even the ones whom nature has blessed way more than him, face a torrid life. In the prevailing socio-economic circumstances, in a society which is becoming unforgiving and unrewarding with every passing year, Bilal has refused to live a distorted life.Bilal, who is deaf and dumb, had not thought that one day he would do a job in a multinational food restaurant KFC.
The multinational food restaurant on The Mall next to Dayal Singh mansion is being run by 23 deaf and dumb persons including 20 boys and 3 girls. It is the only food restaurant in the metropolis that is being operated by deaf and dumb persons.
All the 23 special people are running this KFC restaurant in an excellent manner. They have been working here for the last two years like normal persons, serving in the same capacity in other restaurants. Majority of the customers particularly come to this Mall Road, KFC branch to see these brave hearts who prefer to face the challenges of life instead of choosing a distorted way of living.
One of them, the cashier counter in-charge, Nabila says that it has been the aim of her life to do a respectable job so that nobody feels pity for her. Well, you may question how did she talk to me. We communicated through writing because I do not know their sign language and she cannot speak like us.
Customer Relation Officer KFC Sana Naz said that this KFC branch is under the Cupola, Pakistan Ltd. banner. Cupola recruited candidates from several deaf institutes across Pakistan and provided them with specialised training. She said all these 23 are from the government supported institution for the deaf and dumb, Gung Mahal. All of them have done their F.A.
The work environment of this branch has been created to suit the deaf, with innovations such as using light bulbs in place of bells along with illustrative point and order menu cards.
This KFC branch manager Nida told TNS that there are now 3 KFC outlets in Pakistan run primarily by the Deaf: 1 in Karachi in Gulshan Iqbal, a 2nd in Lahore on the Mall Road, and a 3rd in Rawalpindi. Each restaurant is staffed by the deaf, with one hearing manager on duty for customer assistance.
The manager pointed out that because of their nature of work, IT companies in Pakistan are ideally placed to offer meaningful employment to the disabled.
A customer Sufyan Saleem while appreciating said, "KFC and Cupola and all those involved have done excellent work". He said that he wants to congratulate the KFC management on their noble attempt to give jobs to such special persons. He said if he will ever have his own office he will surely give job opportunities to these brave people. He said a common man should get a lesson from these deaf and dumb persons who live with dignity and strive for excellence. He urged the other organisations and institutions to give job opportunities to such people.
Another customer Faizan Qazi, an electrical engineer, said that if someone wants to see a place like heaven he or she must come to this place where silence and eyes work instead of tongue and ears. He said it is not difficult for any one to deal with these innocent persons. Faizan said he used to come to this place two or three times in a month because whenever he felt disappointment in his work he would come here and after watching these silent persons who are facing this cruel world with patience, he got new hope and courage to overcome his disappointment.
A teacher at the deaf and dumb school and college told TNS that the KFC's policy is very good and other private organisations should follow it. It is better social service for the society. He said he and his colleagues usually try to help their students in their personal capacity but success of these efforts depend upon luck. "Only few students are lucky to find useful jobs with respectable pay, generally such people are given manual labour or domestic work," he said.
While talking to TNS, Secretary Special Education Maqbool Ahmad Khan said that government is making arrangements for better future of deaf and dumb children. He said immediate and effective measures are being taken for their educational and professional training. Government is doing its best to provide better educational and professional opportunities to these deaf and dumb children. On a query about the KFC branch where all the staff is deaf and dumb with the exception of one, he said that KFC's attempt to facilitate these special persons is really appreciable and other people in the private sector as well as the government sector should provide job opportunities to such special persons.
No comments:
Post a Comment