Building

Amma Cafe in Lumbini Sacred Garden

Amma Café is the first women-led social enterprise established inside the Lumbini Sacred Garden, where Queen Mayadevi gave birth to the Buddha about 2,600 years ago. Inspired by the significance of this sacred land, Amma Café supports vulnerable women living in poor villages around the Lumbini Sacred Garden to change their lives for better through their own enterprises. Amma or mother in Pali–the ancient language spoken at the time of the Buddha–honours motherhood and women for their grit and commitment to overcome barriers they face to care for their families and communities. 

Amma Café core values are:

• To be a role model social enterprise that inspires vulnerable women in the Greater Lumbini Area to pursue their aspirations.

• To respect the sacredness of the land where it is located by serving only fresh and locally sourced produce in a clean and calm atmosphere.

• To equally share profits among all baristas for the prosperity of the women, girls, and communities in the Greater Lumbini Area.

To be an example of environmental sustainability to other businesses in the area by using of only biodegradable materials and generating minimum wastage.

The Lumbini Sacred Garden was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 for its outstanding universal value “as one of the most holy and significant places for one of the world’s great religions” and the significance of the archaeological remains and “evidence about the nature of Buddhist pilgrimage centers from a very early period”. Amma Café is located inside one of the most revered places in the world: in Nepal. Set at the core of the Lumbini Sacred Garden, just about 560 meters from the Mayadevi temple and in front of the World Peace Flame, Amma Café is surrounded not only by history, but also by trees and water bodies, as in the time of the Buddha. The building that houses the Amma Café was designed in 1972 by the Japanese architect, Kenzo Tange.  Featuring a simple, but elegant ambience, the building is being renovated to provide visitors with the expected comforts of a modern café in a historical building.

Amma Café supports the circular economy by giving a new use to an existing pavilion and manufacturing furniture with minimum wastage. Its dinnerware will be mostly made of natural materials, such as thatch grass. The baristas uniforms are been made locally, using organic cotton and traditional Dhaka textiles.

• 

•