Road to Refuge are rolling out coffee cups for Refugee Week.

To celebrate Refugee Week, more than 30 Melbourne cafes are stocking Road to Refuge stamped coffee cups to encourage customers to reflect on refugees and Australia’s relationship with them. And there’s no better time to catch a someone than when they’re having a quick coffee.

This week almost 40,000 takeaway coffees will walk out of cafes across Melbourne with an image of ten-year-old Layla — an asylum seeker from Tehran and one of the Road to Refuge journey characters — stamped on the cup.

In one of the journeys, Layla faces her family’s terrifying decision of whether to flee home or not and to make a dangerous journey in search of protection. While Layla’s character is fictional, the journey of many asylum seekers in her position is not. For this reason, coffee drinkers are invited to visit the Road to Refuge website and complete the interactive journey of an asylum seeker in their choose-your-own-adventure program.

Meet Layla.

Founder and director of the organisation, Dana Affleck, explained that the initiative provides “a non-invasive way to bring refugees into the hands and minds of regular latte-drinking Melburnians”.

:It allows customers to engage as much or as little as they wish in this conversation, but at the very least, we hope it will plant an important seed,” she said.

Road to Refuge also runs regular events, school workshops in metro and regional areas, adult education initiatives and even have their very own coffee cart (which will make two appearances this weekend!).

Dana busily stamping coffee cups.

Discussing asylum seekers is often believed to be a taboo subject but Road to Refuge aims to take the edge off and bring this important issue into mainstream conversation through its accessible and dynamic approach to community engagement.

“We hope that this coffee cup project will encourage people to think about an issue they may not otherwise engage in,” Affleck said.

“We are proud and excited to be partnering with some of the best cafes in Melbourne to spread the word.

“And what better time to take a moment to consider something different then over a morning coffee fix or lazy afternoon pick-me-up.”

Oof. Time for an afternoon coffee I think!

From Auction Rooms, in North Melbourne, Cru in Kew and Small Block in Brunswick East, you can pick up your Road to Refuge stamped take-away coffee at one of more than 30 cafes listed below. And don’t forget to Insta your cup o’ Joe to go with the hashtags #RoadToRefuge & #RefugeeWeek!

You can follow Road to Refuge on social media through their Twitter, Instagram and Facebook page.

Or you can just head to their website and subscribe to their mailing list.

Road to Refuge coffee cups are being rolled out across Melbourne cafes for Refugee Week.