Ketholeno Neihu
Morung Express Feature
It is no surprise that café culture in Nagaland is seeing a boon in recent times and many entrepreneurs are emerging by establishing western-like cafes across the state and more so in Dimapur with commercial variants found in plenty.
But apart from embodying all the attraction of a modern cafe, Café 09 has a palpable side which is a testament to the value of giving children the opportunity to live, to be educated or to resettle from a displacement.
The café has a posh yet serene interior adjacent to the Vishal Store in the heart of Dimapur’s Circular road.
The café, looked after by Kilang Zulu, was earlier sponsored by HelpLive. HelpLive is a non-profit organization to provide displaced children or children in need with healthcare services, housing or shelter and education.
HelpLive was started in 2009 which is registered in the US and operates in Thailand and India’s Northeast which is why we have the café in Dimapur as “Café 09” bearing its name to its incepting year.
“We draw our profits to fund children in need by way of paying for their education, or providing a space for them to stay, also identify children with potentials but are unable to meet the financial needs,” Kilang adds.
Kilang also expresses that “Financial independence is a sustainable way to keep an initiative on its wheel rather than depending on funds or donations which doesn’t survive in the long way.”
He says that it primarily aims “to work closely with local leaders to identify what they need and how they can help and support other leaders.” The cafe has nine full time employees.
In Thailand, HelpLive has reached out to more than 1500 children and its sustainable chains include cafés, pigerry farms etc.
Café 09
Here at Café 09, you find the usual menu commingled with the normal restaurant slurps you find in Nagaland or our oriental favourites like noodles, dumplings and several non-vegs in the Manchurian or Schezwan style. The café also has its own coffee brewery.
But the intriguing part is where you find the café’s specials with unusually long descriptions like “If combining noddles and rice sounds weird have it with chicken..” or the crispy pork, as Kilang says “such addition were random kitchen experiments from their chefs which is also liked by many customers.”
Venturing on getting a good place to run a café, Kilang recalls wayfaring Kohima and Dimapur convincing the owner to use the place which came out quite spacious after some hard renovation.
“The place now serves multipurpose for renting the place to host events while providing other services like catering and delivery,” he adds.
Tables at the café are positioned against huge front windows, you may well end up sitting on a stool where the adjacent view allows you to watch the busy bustles down the street, usual traffics, the vishal market or other stores that are busy with crowd everyday as Kilang expresses, “there is much happening down the street which is also pretty interesting to watch the buzz.”
In his travels, back and forth to Thailand and India, he also brings raw materials or ingredients which are hard to find in the markets in Dimapur.
For Kilang, the journey has been rewarding, believing that it was his own calling and as a worship singer, “to live out the songs I sing.”
Kilang Zulu recently released a single titled ‘ABBA Father’ on September 7 in YouTube. The song is available on iTunes.
Sharing his experiences in Nagaland in the past two years, Kilang joyously narrates that Helplive sponsors Akokla for her education in Dimapur and also gives scholarship to all 13 children at the Bethany Centre in Dimapur.
