COVID-19 has caused suspension of many businesses in Hong Kong. A large portion of visually impaired persons working as masseurs encountered severe reduction in working hours and unemployment as their industry faced frequent lockdowns and reduced customers.
Therefore, Blind Union launched the "Better Tomorrow Massage Coupon" and started selling pre-paid massage coupons in April 2020, paying half the salary to our masseurs in advance, and providing them with urgent financial security, while the remaining are paid when the vouchers are redeemed.
Thanks for the support of the "Better Tomorrow Massage Coupon". A lot of positive feedback was received after the launch of the campaign. In the meantime, our visually impaired masseurs could overcome the financial difficulties with the help received. In order to continue the self-help and mutual-help spirit among the visually impaired group, we applied for a subsidy from Social Welfare Department "Enhancing Employment of People with Disabilities through Small Enterprise' Project" to launch this first social enterprise cafe YAU CAFE which combines massage and coffee together.
YAU CAFE not only provides job opportunities to visually impaired people, but also build up an incluusive platform to demonstrate their abilities to the public.
