A Real Sign of Success
I stood back and realized that this was the best thing that could happen – the women were now better at baking than I was. The women were teaching me how to make bread! If this isn’t a sign of success, I don’t know what is. And it is a testament to both the women and our incredible TWB team.
I returned to Rwanda a week ago. I’m here for several reasons: first, to support our amazing and ever-kick-ass COO, Julie Greene, in all of her work; second, to on-board two new TWB team members (stay tuned!); and third, to welcome two representatives from our corporate sponsor, Rademaker, BV, to Rwanda. I’m only in Rwanda for one month, so it will be a whirlwind of a trip.
I usually feel a combination of anxiety and excitement coming to Rwanda.
The anxiety stems from questions like:
“Will I be able to accomplish my pre-identified tasks?”
“How much “help” can I provide, or am I really more in an oversight role?”
“How much can I actually do in a month?”
The excitement, however, thankfully and graciously, centers me to think: “Wow! Just look at how much progress we have made.” “Are you kidding me?! These women are now doing what?!” And, “Seriously, TWB team, you created this? It’s AMAZING.”
I had one of those “WOW” moments this week. I went to our bakery in Kigali to test the proper functioning of one of our ovens. I arrived and told the women, “Right, I’m going to bake some bread and test this oven. Would you like to help me?” They agreed. I began to prepare. I washed my hands and got my materials ready. Then, I realized, “Wait, where is the recipe?” I asked the women and they laughed. “We have the recipes in our heads,” they said. Impressed, but not discouraged, I said, “Wonderful! I don’t, so please pass me the recipe book.”
I started baking and one woman, Rose, laughed at me again. She said under her breath in Kinyarwanda, “You don’t know how to bake.” I stopped, stunned. Whaaaaaaat? I thought. I don’t know how to bake?! I taught you! But then the most beautiful thing happened: Rose gently pushed me out of the way and took over, still half laughing, half commenting under her breath that I didn’t know how to bake.
I stood back and realized that this was the best thing that could happen – the women were now better at baking than I was. The women were teaching me how to make bread!
If this isn’t a sign of success, I don’t know what is. And it is a testament to both the women and our incredible TWB team.
BOOM.
Piloting TWB in the United States
TWB bakeries can (and will) be relevant around the world. Our model – investing in education, women, and business incubation – works because skill development (with a viable product) can act as a catalyst for income generation, empowerment, and education anywhere.
In January, The Women’s Bakery will celebrate our 2nd birthday in East Africa. As we say in Kinyarwanda, Isabukuru Nziza.
In this time, we have been kneading, shaping, and sharing bread with women, men, and communities, both urban and rural alike. From noisy, cramped shops in Kigali to the rolling, lush green hills of the Western Province, our team has traversed the country to leverage the simplicity and affinity of bread (“imigati” in Kinyarwanda) for autonomy and opportunity through small business creation. Bread is brilliant; it requires few ingredients and it is a product forever in demand. Plus, who doesn’t love bread?
Around the world, eating and sharing bread is a communal process, often symbolizing peace. In Rwanda, for example, it’s not uncommon to cook a traditional Rwandan dish, ubugari, or cassava bread, and have three, four, five, or six people pulling pieces from the bread at once. There is truly something soulful about eating meals like this – together.
TWB has come a long way, too. We started baking bread in Rwanda in 2012, in small villages out in the Eastern part of the country. Then, it was just an idea.
Today, it’s a reality.
And here’s the really crazy part: our bakeries are relevant not just in Rwanda. TWB bakeries can (and will) be relevant around the world. Our model – investing in education, women, and business incubation – works because skill development (with a viable product) can act as a catalyst for income generation, empowerment, and education anywhere.
Since the beginning of our journey, it has been the goal of both Markey and Julie, our co-founders, to adapt this model as a relevant option for women outside of Rwanda. Our focus remains – and will continue to be – on Rwanda and East Africa, but we have been mindful of potential entry points elsewhere to provide opportunity – for everyone.
In November, after months of planning and discussion, we launched a pilot program, We Baked This, with African Community Center in Denver. With the goal of future partnership for testing a US-adapted training program, TWB was hired to conduct a 10-week training program for a small group of refugee women from countries including Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This group has already learned how to make healthy food choices in American grocery stores, how to read a bread recipe, and how to bake our delicious sweet potato bread.
We will conclude this pilot program in January with the hopes of continuing a partnership with ACC. This way, our model will be available and pertinent to women’s groups in the United States. We are exploring product variation, like bread mixes, to see if there is a viable market for micro-enterprise and vocational education.
Projects like this give me hope, enthusiasm, and zest for The Women’s Bakery. They give me hope because working on behalf of women – whether in Rwanda or the United States – has been a dream of mine since I was young. And, more than just advocating for women’s opportunity, The Women’s Bakery delivers.
It’s not just us, either. It’s the women we work with, the Rwandans that help mobilize and deliver our model, and the supporters we have all over the world. Making bread relevant for all requires the investment of all, too. We’re all needed. And we’re glad you are with us.
May this holiday season (and 2017!) remind you of the possibility and potency that bread and empowerment have anywhere. May you reflect and know that you can be a part of this, believing that a simple slice of bread has the power to change the world.
Transcending Culture
"Baking, however, is something that transcends culture and language. It’s something that needs only showing, no telling, to share the activity." - TWB Intern, Emily Sturtavant
Written by TWB Intern, Emily Sturtavant.
For the past four months I have been traveling throughout East Africa with a study abroad program. My travels began in August; as I started my experience living abroad, I had a base knowledge of the area, limited understanding of the local languages and a yet, a hunger to learn about the lives and cultures of the region. Visiting both Kenya and Tanzania, I now have had the opportunity to intern with The Women's Bakery in Rwanda.
During this time I have begun to realize the importance and power of shared moments.
On my first day working with TWB, I had to opportunity to bake bread with TWB women. I was excited to spend time with TWB bakers and get a chance to bake, one of my favorite hobbies. Yet, with my inadequate knowledge (read: absolutely zero) of Kinyarwanda I couldn’t ask how to make something or what I could do to help.
Baking, however, is something that transcends culture and language. It’s something that needs only showing, no telling, to share the activity. I watched as the women carefully cut and weighed the dough before splitting the pieces in half. Then I helped to roll two pieces out into long snakes before twisting them together into the delicious honey twist I had eaten earlier this morning. Throughout the next couple of hours I helped mix, knead, twist and bake the bread that is the base of this business.
I can say that I have learned a little Kinyarwanda since my first day here, but I still communicate with the women who work here mostly through smiles and high fives getting my point across just fine in the process. Baking transcends these barriers and I am grateful for this opportunity to learn this with TWB in Rwanda.
TWB: A Life-Long School
For Yvonne, the opportunity to work and intern with TWB had given her the opportunity to continue to learn - and to share this knowledge with others,
“If you want to stop learning, stop living.”
Being a part of TWB is not only a family to me, but a life long school; a chance to understand how micro-business is the engine of development, and opportunity for me to contribute to a bright future for our women. I am living a dream with TWB.
TWB is enabling women entrepreneurship and awakening their ability to stay self-dependent in terms of finance and healthy nutrition. My dream has always been about contributing to the economy of my country by empowering society through a bottom-up approach.
In June, we traveled to Tanzania to visit the women of TWB in Tanzania. This was a chance for me to learn more about TWB’s work outside of Rwanda. The initial training in Tanzania involved women already working in a large soy cooperative. These women wanted to add more value to their soy products and TWB was the solution - soy bread!
They produce soy milk and then use the milk to make better breads and increase awareness in the community to attract clients. My take away was that, although TWB-Rwanda has launched a new bakery in Remera where our women works six days a week, it is not enough. Soon we will need to grow, and I know that we have a great example with good mentors in Tanzania.
In six months of my internship, I learnt a lot not just about bread and cake, but more about administration, teamwork, and finance, and I believe there is still more to learn, which will help me to make my contribution to bring TWB. I am very excited to be part of TWB-Rwanda and I am hoping to keep learning a lot about our great work.
