Cat café helps with stress in Gaza - 8th September 2023

This is Meow Cat Café, in Gaza City.

Cat cafés are in lots of cities across the world. They're becoming popular. Stressed customers like to go there. Being with animals can help. Animals can make people feel relaxed.

And that's why Nehma Maabad opened this cat café.

Nehma Maabad: "Cats, for me, are a refuge that relieves me of psychological stress. So I thought of creating a project that combines serving people with something to cheer them up. That's where the idea of the café came from. It combines the concept of a normal coffee shop with a cute twist of having your cup of coffee while playing with a cat that will make you smile and forget about the pressures of life beyond the walls of this shop."

People in Gaza know about stress. Palestinians and Israelis are neighbours but not friends. They often fight. Gaza's a very difficult place to live.

Local people, like Manar Abu Samra, can try to forget their problems at the café.

Manar Abu Samra: "It's a wonderful idea, especially for cat lovers. The quality of cats here is beautiful and sweet, so it's a wonderful idea -- despite its strangeness to society -- and when I heard about it, I felt happy."

Nehma asks visitors to pay to come in. It's $2.65 per hour. It's to buy cat food.

Nehma Maabad: "The entrance fees for the cat zone are purely aimed at covering their food and drink. The café section functions like any other normal café in Gaza."

The animals are sometimes sick. So the money's for vet bills too. Manar thinks cat lovers are happy to pay.

Manar Abu Samra: "Someone who loves cats will come visit and won't care about the cost, but I don't think its entrance fees of nearly 10 shekels ($2.65) per hour to play with the cats is a high fee. It's appropriate."

We know that playing with animals can help with stress. In the future, we'll probably see more and more cat cafés.