`Downies` under threat as coffee shop founder is barred from SA

Source: Times Live, 04/05/2019

She left for the Netherlands in January to marry her South African
fiancé, Wade, after being told she could not get married in SA due
to the struggle to get her papers filed with the department.
Store manager Tauriq Hendricks said Schultz had been told that
because she left SA with an expired visa, she would be banned from
the country for five years.
Her husband returned alone to SA, and Hendricks said the future of
six able-bodied Brownies & Downies staff and 25 students with
disabilities ranging from Down syndrome to foetal alcohol syndrome
now hung in the balance.
Schultz explaining what had happened.
“I have battled in an appeals process spanning close on two years
to sort out my paperwork with the Department of Home Affairs, but
seem to hit one snag after the other,` she wrote.
`Apart from wishing to be reunited with my husband, Brownies &
Downies needs me back in South Africa to continue the work that we
have started.
“Essentially, Brownies & Downies runs a training programme where
young people with special needs are taught culinary skills so that
they are empowered, can have a sense of purpose, and can
contribute meaningfully to society.”
Since opening Brownies & Downies, the post said, Schultz had been
inundated with calls from special needs schools and families with
special needs children. They all wanted to start similar
initiatives in other parts of SA because of the success achieved
in Cape Town.
`The impending closure of Brownies & Downies will not only impact
the many young people who are benefiting from the programme, but
trainers and other support staff face the prospect of losing their
jobs too,` said the post.
The training programme, which sees young people with special needs
taking orders and serving customers, has already integrated 12
people with intellectual disabilities in work environments.
Another seven are awaiting Schultz`s return so they can be placed.
Hendricks claimed home affairs set up unnecessary bureaucratic
barriers when it came to Schultz`s case.
`We even had inspections from home affairs, which is almost
unheard of. I`ve been in the restaurant industry for a long time
and home affairs never does any inspections on foreign nationals.
Why on Wendy?` he said.
`It felt like a bit of victimisation, the way they came in. They
specifically knew what they were looking for and they were very
arrogant about the situation.
`The point of this is, Wendy is Brownies & Downies. This is her
dream. She came to South Africa three years ago on a social work
experiment and saw a need for something like Brownies & Downies.
`She made sure that she did everything by the book, but by doing
everything by the book she`s probably shot herself in the foot.`