Fighting Racism with Coffee in Harehills
A Roundhay mum of three has launched a crowd-funding campaign to turn her community cafe into a permanent space – after hijab-wearing Muslims admitted they don’t dare go into town on their own for fear of racial abuse.
Anna Dyson, 36, set up Toast Love Coffee a year ago after meeting a woman seeking asylum in Leeds. The pair bonded over coffee, baking and homemade cake, and Anna decided she wanted to replicate this friendship on a wider level by creating a warm and neutral space where people could meet and build a community.
She says she was shocked when some Muslim women told her they wouldn’t go out on their own wearing their hijabs: “That whole culture of walking into a cafe and having a coffee in between things or whatever is completely alien to them. They will go in groups, but certainly just being able to break your day and find somewhere comforting or safe to just chill out - it just doesn't exist for a lot of people. It's made me realise how people very rarely leave their own little area. “There are loads of different people from loads of different backgrounds and there aren't really that many places that are genuinely neutral and a natural safe space.
“We've been popping up for a year in a youth centre and we've really identified the need for this space where anyone can walk in, no labels, no hats on, just introduce yourself and have a chat and it really does bring out the best in people. There’s nothing else like this locally.”
Toast Love Coffee was originally held just two mornings a week as part of Community Action for Harehills (CATCH), but after outgrowing that space, Anna launched a campaign to convert a disused portacabin into a cafe with kitchen facility.
They are part of the Real Junk Food Network, an international project which began in Armley using intercepted waste food to feed people. The cafe works on a pay as you feel basis and has had over 1,000 visits in the past year.
People can pledge their support via the website www.crowdfunder.co.uk/toastlovecoffee-community-cafe.