The idea started with a meal. While studying at the University of Sussex in Brighton, a city known for its progressive social culture, Windri Lestari Rusli walked into a restaurant run entirely by people with autism. The food was delicious, but it was the experience that stayed with her.
"For the first time, I really understood inclusion," says Windri, whose master's in Social Development gave her both the framework and the permission to think differently.
"I saw deaf cafés, social enterprises built by the community for the community.” She carries this experience with her back to Indonesia.
After years working in international development, focusing on economic empowerment for people with disabilities, she became friends with the deaf community in Surakarta. This friendship showed her that there are many capable and motivated deaf youths, but they have very limited options. Most were working as teachers at special schools (SLB) or as unskilled factory workers. Jobs that didn't pay enough and offered little future.
With support from the British Council's UK Alumni Social Action Grant, Windri decided to build something different: a real training space where deaf youth could learn by doing. They called it Kawan Tuli Coffee and Space.
They created a programme that was developed in collaboration with the deaf youths in the community. Through this programme, eight deaf youth completed intensive modules in barista skills, hospitality, business management, and practical work experience. When real workplace demands made it clear that more was needed, the curriculum expanded to include bookkeeping, purchasing, storage management, and International Sign Language for baristas. Participants learn to communicate with deaf customers from other countries as well.
"I still remember the first week," Windri says. "They were in heavy stress. Not because they didn't know what to do, but because they were so nervous. The recipe just disappeared from their brain." Only one of the eight trainees had any prior experience talking with non-deaf people.
Three months later, the same young people were circulating between tables, asking customers if they'd like to learn a few words of sign language. The shift in confidence was visible, and measurable.
The programme has reached 386 participants across three public events, including sessions at the INDACT forum and the Para Arts Festival. Students from SLB schools across Java, some travelling from as far as Kediri by bus, began visiting Kawan Tuli to see the baristas at work. For many, it was the first time they had seen deaf youth in a professional customer-facing role. Teachers brought their students specifically so they could witness the possibility with their own eyes.
"I never imagined that a small lab we made together could inspire so many people," Windri says. "It created a snowball effect we hadn't planned for."
The project has outlasted the grant. Kawan Tuli has already moved to a larger space, sustained by the commercial momentum that built during the six-month programme and by the loyalty of a community that had genuinely embraced what the café represents.
For Windri, the lesson that has stayed with her most is simpler than any framework: meet people where they are, and trust what emerges.
Windri’s advice to other alumni and current UK students is equally direct: go outside, explore, talk to people, and visit different initiatives.
"I think the spirit of the UK itself should always be inside you," she says. "I think that kind of spirit can lead us to bring good to the society and bring better things, even for ourselves."
