The Best Solution Against Malnutrition in East Africa

Written by: Charlotte Musengimana, current TWB Bakery Operations Manager Intern

Have you ever meet with a child who is affected by malnutrition disease?

If yes, how did you feel? If no, what could you do to avoid it?

Some children in Africa, and specifically, Rwanda, are poorly fed because they are not consuming foods that provide the proper nutrients for growing. This is a serious problem as malnutrition can lead to serious effects for children, and especially as they become adults.

Good news!

The Women’s Bakery (TWB) is coming throughout East Africa as a social change maker to train and empower women how to source local ingredients FOR healthier, more nutritious products.

Women that go through the TWB training program receive knowledge to bake the best nutritious bread for their family and serve it to the community for an affordable price.

In this work, TWB is hoping to improve the standards of life for the women we work with, and eventually, for those whom consume our bread.

To prevent malnutrition in Africa, lets gather together with this opportunity from TWB by supporting these women who are the backbone of their families.

There are so many ways to support: through buying at least one piece of bread every day, or through supporting our programs so we can do this work.

 Enjoy life with healthy bread!

What does progress look like?

I was able to spend January in Rwanda this year. I get to visit Rwanda about 3 or 4 times a year and while working outside of Rwanda has its drawbacks, the benefits are seeing the leaps of progress each time I visit.

The bakeries are the most obvious indication of progress. The women have mastered their workflows, are baking with confident know-how, and producing breads that look and taste delicious. Many women have become target customers for accessories, like bras and purses, because they are now seen as having money. And many women report powerful changes in their lives – they know how to prepare a more nutritious meal for their children; they feel confident in their abilities; they feel respected in their communities; they feel successful/lucky/grateful/empowered by their incomes.

It’s the shiny side of our work.

But what does the dull side of our work look like? Or, perhaps a better question, what is the ugly side of our work? What is not working?

Well, we thought our bakeries would be profitable by now; we thought the women wanted to own the bakeries (they don’t); we thought we’d get picked up by Oprah or Ellen; we thought our bread products would speak for themselves (many Rwandese value quantity over quality…); we thought building businesses in Rwanda would be much less expensive than it is (hellooooo taxes!).  But here’s what I find so inspiring about The Women’s Bakery, our model, and especially our team: our ability to transform.

Transformation is different than adaptation.

To me, adaptation means you accept your surroundings and modify yourself to work within them. We have certainly done (and have had to do) this, but I don’t think that paints the full picture, nor does it give credit to our innovation. Accepting our surroundings would mean that we simply make doughnuts or nutritionally-weak white bread because that’s what sells. It would mean that we work with men because women stay in the field and the home since “that’s what women do.”  It would mean that we, as a hybrid nonprofit/for-profit company, would consider our people – the reason we have successful programs – overhead and keep them at 10% of our overall budget.

But what if there were more? What if we didn't accept that realities?

What if people did buy bread because it is nutritious or good quality? What if women wanted to work somewhere else? What if a company valued its people as much as it valued its customers/partners/beneficiaries?

We believe all of those “what if’s” are possible. And we’re doing it. WHAT? It’s exhilarating.

I recently remarked to TWB’s Co-Founder and Co-Director, Julie, that her greatest quality is resiliency. Then my eyes popped out of my head because I realized that this trait – perhaps infused by Julie – epitomizes our Women’s Bakery company culture. We believe in our mission. We listen. We learn from our mistakes. We remain committed to what we know can work. And we act with a shrewdness that would make Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, proud. 

Education Never Ends

At TWB’s Kigali Bakery, we have been conducting Nutrition Extension lessons for the last nine weeks with TWB women that work at the bakery.

Each lesson (totaling one hour) occurred once a week, covering the importance of balanced diet, malnutrition status in Rwanda, breastfeeding, child development, and women’s health. At the end of each lesson, the women shared a nutritious meal and reflected on the experience of learning and working together.

After the final lesson, I, as the training manager, held an informational dialogue to collect feedback from the women about their experience with TWB’s pilot nutrition extension program.

Nearly all participants commented on the acquired understanding of Rwanda’s 1,000 Days Campaign. One participant spoke proudly, “I never knew what the 1,000 days campaign in Rwanda meant,” but after the training, “I know the 1,000 days is about healthy nutrition from when a mother knows she is pregnant until a child is 2 years old of age.”

Another participant said that thought she had forgotten most of the nutrition lessons she had in the first training (three years ago), the Nutrition Extension Program was a good refresher for the content.

“I had forgotten most of the things we had learned before, but this lesson extension came as a reminder and refresher, I am going to go back and really put in practice what I learned, especially breastfeeding.”

At TWB, we believe that education is an endless process. We always learn to improve and that is why we developed the Nutrition Extension in the first place: so that we can remind our women that their and their child’s health matter.  

Education never ends; we will continue to educate TWB women and the community throughout Rwanda on the importance of healthy nutrition for individuals, and for families. 

#breadpower #nutritiousanddelicious #togetherwerise