The Food Does the Talking; “Abey Khao” Providing Deaf Community a Home

Treating differently-abled people in Pakistan has always been a problem and it remains unchanged to this day. Even though in the recent decades the country as a whole has made strides in the right direction, there is still a lot left to be desired. In spite of these hardships, there are some people that use their quirks to overcome these hardships.

‘Abey Khao’ is a food stall turned café that was started by Sheikh Faizan Raza when he was 18. The birth of this idea came about when Faizan found it difficult to cope with his hearing disability and decided he would do something for similar people around him. Besides his sister, most of his family also suffered from different levels of hearing loss, so along with them he decided he would setup a food stall in order provide people with speech and hearing disabilities a sense of pride.

Quickly gaining popularity, both nation-wide and internationally ‘Abey Khao’ was self-sufficient enough to go from a food stall (which was initially shut down due to authorities) to a full blown café in sector 1-8, Islamabad. Now that Abey Khao has successfully made a name for itself, it has opened up food stalls in other places like F-6 Markaz. What makes all of them so special is the fact that no professional chefs or trained kitchen staff is hired; instead the only people working are the differently-abled recruits who are trained to deliver some mouth-watering food.

The fast-food-esque styles of meals available are super tasty and definitely worth checking out, and the service could not be any better! That leaves us with no option but to visit Abey Khao ASAP.