For Belarusian wheelchair barista, ‘making the world better’ is his cup of joe

Photos by Sergei GAPON / AFP

WARSAW—With its sleek interior and freshly ground coffee, the café run by Belarusian exile Sasha Avdevich may at first glance seem like yet another trendy spot in Warsaw.

But the lowered, wheelchair-accessible countertop and a sticker reading: “The barista on shift has a hearing impairment” in Polish, English and Belarusian reveal this is no ordinary business.

Avdevich, himself a wheelchair user, founded the first “Inclusive Barista” coffee shop while still in Belarus and quickly shot to fame as a disability campaigner in the country controlled with an iron fist by strongman President Alexander Lukashenko.

The 40-year-old activist took part in the unprecedented mass protests that swept Belarus after a 2020 election slammed by rights groups as fraudulent.

As Lukashenko brutally cracked down on dissent, Avdevich knew he had to flee.

“A lot of people called me back then and said, ‘Sasha, if you don’t want to end up in a coffin, leave the country,’” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

FRESH POT Sasha Avdevich prepares coffee during the opening of “Inclusive Barista” on April 7.

He recounted the COVID-19 pandemic-era journey that saw him flee to Georgia initially, then travel on to the Canary Islands before applying for international protection in France.He eventually moved to Poland, now home to tens of thousands of fellow Belarusians, who, like Avdevich, fled the repression.

“There are many migrants with disabilities,” Avdevich said.As he settled in Warsaw, Avdevich launched barista training for people in wheelchairs, threw festivals where the trainees brewed coffee from specially adapted carts and began to draw up plans for his first café in Poland.

When he found a commercial space suited to people with disabilities, close to his flat and in the city’s increasingly popular Praga district, Avdevich and his business partner decided to give it a shot.

Rap battle, speed dating“We had money for three months of rent, and we were like: ‘Come on, whatever happens, we’ll do it,’” he said.

Opened in April, the café hires people with various disabilities as well as migrants, not only from Belarus.

MUGS AND WHEELS Avdevich’s café is the first in Poland with workspace fully adapted for employees in wheelchairs.

The founders said they want their café to be as “international”—and inclusive—as possible.

“We recently organized a rap battle, we will organize a speed dating event soon,” Avdevich said.

The café is also launching an inclusive DJing school.

Avdevich lost the use of his legs when he broke his back in a motorbike accident in 2011.

“There’s no surgery for this type of disability … it’s not possible to walk again, even if I was Bill Gates,” Avdevich laughed.

Shortly after the accident he said he told himself “OK, I’m alive. What can I do? I have working arms.”

“And now we’re here, in our coffee shop, making this world better.” —AFP