Afghan refugee's 'Dream' coffee shop in Iran becomes reality

With each serving of French press coffee poured delicately into a cup with steamed milk, 21-year-old Afghan refugee Fatemeh Jafari lives out a dream in her basement coffee shop in Tehran that is out of reach for millions like her in Iran. More than 3 million Afghans, including as many as 2 million who entered the country without legal permission, live in the Islamic Republic, according to United Nations estimates. Even those legally in Iran face challenges in finding work, with many taking jobs as laborers for cash under the table. Jafari hopes her “Telma Cafe” (“Dream Cafe”) in Tehran will help bridge the divide between Afghans and Iranians and fight the xenophobia many Afghans face in Iran.

“We are not different”

“Many think that Afghans are unable to speak Farsi with the Iranian accent or are illiterate,” Jafari told The Associated Press on a recent day at the café. “But when they come here, they see Afghan university students for themselves and get to know our culture and dialect better and it is very interesting for them. Here their false presumptions about us are transformed and Iranians and Afghans sometimes even make friends with each other.” Jafari added: “We people are not as different from each other as some may imagine.”

Afghan refugees began arriving in Iran in 1978, following their country’s Communist military coup and the subsequent Soviet occupation. The occupation ended in 1989, giving way to years of civil war and ultimately a Taliban-controlled government. Then came the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, and the subsequent U.S.-led invasion targeting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, whom the Taliban harbored. Since President Donald Trump’s decision last year to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, some Afghans have begun returning home as Iran’s economy suffers. But many still remain in the country, like the Iranian-born Jafari.

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Jafari, an Azad University law student, worked with her friend Hamed Azar, another Afghan who studies engineering, to open the café in Tehran’s bustling Ferdowsi neighborhood near the city’s old downtown. They worked hard to receive a permit from government authorities — no easy task is given that the Labor Ministry’s normal policy of not allowing Afghans to run cafes. They raised money from their parents and used their own cash to open the business. They couldn’t rely on a bank loan as Iranian banks do not give loans to foreigners, even those with Iranian residency permits. They made their own tables and chairs, ran their own plumbing and picked up paintbrushes to create the café. “We told ourselves, we will either succeed or fail, but let’s try,” Jafari said.

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Café culture

At first, some customers thought Jafari and her colleagues were Chinese or Japanese because of their Asiatic features, which are common among Afghanistan’s Hazara ethnic group. But Jafari attributed that simply to Iranians’ limited exposure to Afghans living in the country. The cafe’s menu includes Afghan meals such as the country’s famous Bolani bread, a thin, quesadilla-like flatbread that is baked or fried and stuffed with potatoes, lentils and other vegetables. An Iranian barista has offered to help Jafari learn new techniques. Café culture remains huge in Iran, with many cafes in university neighborhoods around Tehran where students and young people can be seen sitting and talking.

“Launching this café is an excellent thing and is absolutely remarkable,” said Sepehr Haghighazar, a 24-year-old Iranian architecture graduate who learned about the café from its Instagram account, which has nearly 15,000 followers. “There is a misperception among many Iranians when it comes to Afghans. The fact is that there is no special difference between them and us.”

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