Everyone Is A Teacher

It is always interesting to me, I think, how places are full of senses that are undeniably familiar and unchanging. Rwanda, for example, consistently smells and feels the same to me; the scent of burning wood and the heaviness of the air under the sun conjure memories, experiences, and the strange familiarity I have with Rwanda.

Last month, I exited a plane that ventured all the way from Amsterdam to Kigali, along with TWB’s Co-Founder & COO, Julie Greene. I’ve known Julie a long time – back to our Peace Corps Rwanda days – and so it was nice to return to this country by her side. We managed to get our bags (most of them) and head back to our East Africa team’s home in Kigali. I recognized these smells, feelings, and the day-to-day life of Rwanda right away; it’s good to be back, I thought (albeit very tiredly).

I couldn’t wait to get in our bakeries and see the work that has evolved within our business in Rwanda.

I last spent time in Rwanda with The Women’s Bakery in the fall of 2015.

Back then, we were just launching our first formal Rwanda-based training with a group of 15 women. Since our initial start-up days, TWB has launched a small bakery in the city with this group, along with the numerous other projects we have started around the country – just to the East, in Ndera, and also out in the Western part of the country, in a community called Bumba. TWB has grown and scaled, and it’s been an indescribable opportunity to be a part of.

Most of this growth, however, has happened while I have been working on TWB stateside. While I have been sharing about our work, managing communications and awareness efforts, and working to launch our pilot programming in Denver, TWB has become a well-known organization in Rwanda. And, our Remera, Kigali bakery has also become recognized in the neighborhood community, known for our “good bread” and “friendly service,” per some of our regular customer base, of whom I have had the fortunate chance to talk with. Being back in Rwanda, and with our team, has built a quick and mighty respect for what we, and for what the women in our program, have built.

I’m in awe of the tenacity and commitment that this kind of work requires. Small business development is hard anywhere, but the women we work with are making it happen.

Most profoundly, on a recent morning of baking, I felt an immense wave of gratitude as Liziki, a long-time baker with us, taught me how to properly master our Tresse, Croissant, and Sandwich shapes for our yeast bread product line. Sure, I know how to bake carrot or beet bread like the back of my hand, but these are new innovations in our product line that I previously did not know how to bake. Like a student willing to learn anything, I asked questions and shaped the dough repetitively so I could, with time, acquire this technical skill. I love learning from our bakers in Kigali; it reminds me that we are all teachers, just as we are all learners.

The women in our Kigali Bakery (Remera) have an incredible work-flow and understanding of the ins-and-outs of making a bakery work. Always, there are improvements to make, but what I appreciate most, thus far on this visit, is realizing that when you trust knowledge to have the power it can hold, often, it works.

Education is powerful. Empowerment is when this kind of education has an application, purpose, and leverage for opportunity.

I will be with our Rwanda team for the next month and I’m genuinely, authentically jazzed to learn more. Really, that’s what it is all about. Bread power.

TWB's Pilot Campus Chapter

Written by Alayna Davis, TWB A&M's Chapter President

Last spring, The Women’s Bakery launched our pilot campus chapter at Texas A&M University. We started off as a small group of officers, brainstorming what a TWB campus chapter would look like. We are now a thriving organization with over 40 members who love and believe in The Women’s Bakery’s mission and vision!

As a campus chapter, our goals are to raise awareness and funds for The Women’s Bakery as well as to educate Texas A&M students and our community about topics such as women’s empowerment and social enterprise.

Our Finance Officer, Kelyn, gave an update on our chapter’s work so far, “To date, we have put on internal group events and completed two separate fundraisers, as well as begun working to plan a large scale program for the spring.”

Our internal events consist of socials, put on by our Social Officer, Natalie, as well as our meetings planned and run by our Education Officer, Colton. At these meetings we have discussed topics such as Rwandan and Tanzanian Culture and Women’s Empowerment.

At another one of our meetings, Colton conducted an interview via Skype with Heather Newell. Colton described his experience: “I had the privilege of interviewing Heather... It was so fascinating and informative getting to hear from someone that has been with TWB from its early stages and has watched it progress over the years.”

Our Vice Chair, CJ, has done a great job facilitating our biweekly officer meeting and says that, “The officers have done an incredible job at creating a welcoming environment for our members and a tangible spirit of unity throughout the organization.” After just a few months as a campus organization, we are already making an impact on campus.

We have had two articles published on campus about our work and have generated a lot of support via social media. We have also made a personal impact on our members. Our Marketing Officer, Madi, describes the effect that The Women’s Bakery has had on her, “The Women’s Bakery has been so much more than something to throw onto my resume. I have learned about other cultures around the world, other people at my own university, about what feminism means to others, and I’ve even learned a bit about myself… The Women’s Bakery has been very eye-opening for me.”

Our Campus Engagement Officers Samira and Ashlie “anticipate an upcoming semester filled with even more events that are informative, meaningful, and fun! All of our members are very excited to be working on programs that will educate the Bryan/College Station area on women's empowerment and the work of The Women's Bakery.”

We also foresee our already large membership growing even bigger as many students have contacted us in hopes of joining us next semester. TWB A&M is off to a fantastic start and all of our officers and members feel so fortunate to have the chance to play a role in this exciting new development for TWB. 

Inspiration.

This blog was written by one of TWB's first and most committed supporters, Kathryn Melton. Kathryn, of Charlotte, North Carolina, is a P.A. (Physician's Assistant) at one of largest physician's group in the Charlotte, NC region. She has been friends for numerous years with TWB Founder & Co-Director, Markey Culver, especially while at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Inspired by TWB, Kathryn hosted an Inspired Meal late this summer and continues to advocate for our work regularly. #sharetheloaf #bakebreadtogether

I first learned about The Women’s Bakery right around the time it started.

My friend, Markey, had been working in Rwanda with the U.S. Peace Corps and was trying to figure out a way to improve the nutrition of the community she was working with. She also recognized the financial struggles of those around her.

Before Markey moved to Rwanda in the first place, we were both living in St. Louis, Missouri and I remember a coffee date that involved talking deeply about Markey’s hopes and fears for her time abroad in East Africa.

How was she going to help? What was she going to bring to her community?

I don’t think she could have even imagined her life and the fulfillment of anything like TWB before she got there. Life moves us in funny ways.

The Women’s Bakery inspires me.

I truly believe that communities thrive when women are involved and successful. Women work to bring people together and are able to catalyze the communities they live in. In addition to the nutritional support the bakeries provide, there is nothing that can be compared to the empowerment of financial independence. What an amazing need TWB is helping to fulfill!

TWB women are learning skills they can take with them the rest of their lives. They are supporting their families and showing their children that they can succeed, as well. 

That’s real, sustainable change.

I am proud to be even the tiniest piece of this wonderful organization and I will continue to advocate for the lasting empowerment of women in Rwanda - and beyond.

#breadpower

Why Growing the TWB Family is like Rugby

I hopped onto the rugby pitch (pitch not field) for the first time last week. It was a scrimmage, to be sure, but in my world – with the big lights, in a professional stadium – it felt like the “big leagues.” It was also my first time to be playing rugby live.

For the entire month of August, I had practiced boldly with white cleats, innumerable bruises, and new teammates, as I began to learn the proper technique of tackling, and perhaps more importantly, the proper technique of being tackled.

Rugby, it turns out, is a game that is played well when skills are sharply refined. Strength is not measured only by muscle. Instead, a long-running, patient commitment, larger-kind-of-vision is what provides success-potential for this sport. My responsibility to show up each week and learn was not so different from my professional capacity with The Women’s Bakery.

When I come to work each day, I represent our organization and act as a voice for what we do. I learn and listen from our team in Rwanda, I grow alongside our team in the United States, and as I communicate our mission and vision with our TWB family across communities, state-lines, and digital media platforms, I realize that growing our TWB family is (and should be) relationship-focused, built on experiences together.

Inherently, this takes time.

Time. This is why growing the TWB family is not unlike rugby. Sure, less tackling is involved, but there is an enduring patience in both landscapes that catalyzes real growth. The more practices I attend, the more I can apply in a game. The more anecdotes, impact reports, and training and bakery updates I can share with our supporters, the more “fuel” our movement of bread power has to grow. And in turn, more women are able to take part in our program – taking part in a real opportunity for empowerment.

To our supporters that have attended our events; for stakeholders that have invested in our work; for readers of our blog; and for loved ones cheering on the women of TWB from afar, thank you.

Thank you for your patience, thank you for showing up with us and believing that empowerment and education matter.

We’ve been a registered social enterprise for over a year and now, with 200+ breads sold a day in Kigali, we know that it’s working. Keep joining along with us for the ride. Practice, it seems, makes perfect.

Bread power!