Silver Spring, Maryland-On Tuesday, June 21, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) opened a European-style café in the center of Pyongyang in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The Pyolmuri Café is operating as a Swiss-style bakery shop and Western restaurant, offering 22 bread and bakery products and 35 Western dishes. The restaurant can serve more than 30 customers at a time and includes two private rooms.
The project is linked to ADRA's bakery that produces more than five metric tons of bread rolls and nutritionally-enriched biscuits each day for two school feeding projects done in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and German Agro Action (GAA), a German humanitarian aid agency. Profits from the restaurant and café will subsidize the costs of the ADRA bakery.
The project, valued at $80,000, was financed partially by MIGROS, a Swiss retail company, and ADRA Switzerland, with support from the DPRK government.
More than 80 people attended the opening ceremony for the café. The attendees included representatives from the DPRK government, the United Nations, various embassies, and local non-government organizations.
ADRA established its office in DPRK in June 1999. ADRA currently works in five provinces and undertakes a diverse range of activities under five primary focal points: health care, nutrition, economic development, rural energy, and development research.
ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, or ethnicity.
Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.