Bread & Humanity

Bread and Humanity

Bread, in all its various forms, is the most widely consumed food in the world. Not only is it an important source of carbohydrates, it’s also portable and compact, which helps to explain why it has been an integral part of diet for thousands of years.

In the Rwandan traditional meal, bread was largely unknown. Just like in many parts of Africa, a typical Rwandan meal is potatoes, beans, and ugali. Breakfast for many in Rwanda is something that was never given much importance.

But, again, bread is everywhere: in our narratives, stories, cultures, and histories.

When TWB first began work in Rwanda, people were asking “What is this, how can you make a bread from carrot or banana?” However, the more our breads are found on the market and people continue to try them, the better they understand how good and nutritive they are.

For those who read the Bible, a common story is about when the Israelites left Egypt to go to Canaan. On their way, they got hungry and asked Moses what to eat. Moses asked God for food. God gave them “manna.” When they saw the manna for the first time, they asked, “What is this?” Eventually, they learned that manna could provide them all the sustenance they needed. Bread was the answer.

The first incidence of bread is assumed to be over 6,000 years ago in Egypt, when naturally occurring yeast accidently mixed with porridge and it rose. At The Women’s Bakery, we think this might have been the best accident ever.

Considering the ancient tradition of bread, it’s important to understand the tradition of how humanity first used the basic ingredients to create a delicious, sustaining, pervasive product-- bread.

A great resource for understanding the history and influences of bread is through a series called “Cooked” on Netflix. For the episode titled “Air” author and food expert, Michael Pollan outlines the intricacies and secrets of bread. You can learn more about this documentary here.

Fun facts abound, like how there are 550 million acres of wheat planted around the world, or alternatively, how bread is sacred in some cultures. In Morocco, for example, it is taboo to cut bread with a knife because it’s considered “too violent.” 

Leavening, refined flour, and mechanized slicing helped develop the bread product further as the world has both increased in civilization and mechanized in various parts of the globe. Without leavening, bread is simply flatbread and remains the first iteration of bread to occur: think pitas or tortillas. Grains (to make flour) were originally grounded by rocks, refined in 800 BC by Mesopotamians, using two circular stones stacked on one another: think milling. Slicing used to occur within the home, but around the world, ciabatta and French breads are now pre-sliced– to accompany a warm cup of coffee or tea.

You can get sliced bread in Rwanda now, too. With coffee, or tea, per your liking. Visit us in Remera, Ndera, or Bumba to get a taste. You won’t be sorry. Bread is essential, delicious, and innate to our humanity.

Woah, that’s real #breadpower.

#eatbreadwithtwb #visitus #womensbakery

Let’s invest in education for a bright future!

Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world.

The Women’s Bakery uses education as a tool to empower women and to help them to become active citizens in the community.

Through our training program, women get knowledge on how to start successful businesses, mostly by focusing on a bakeries. We have trained different women’s groups throughout Rwanda, including Rutsiro, Nyagatare, Remera and Gasabo.

One of the groups is called Togetherness Cooperative, and they are soon launching their bakery in Ndera Sector, about 30 minutes east of Kigali. Donathile, one of the trainees, said that she considers this training as a lifetime opportunity, and she believes this will help her to change her life status from being temporarily employed to a person with permanent employment.

She says“if you educate a woman it means you educate a whole community.” This week, TWB is demonstrating just that through Jeanne D’Arc, a graduate from the first TWB training group in Rwanda.

Jeanne D’Arc is now facilitating TWB in baking sessions and in marketing breads in the neighborhood community with the current Ndera trainee group. Though the bakery in Ndera has yet to open, many people are already coming to buy and taste the breads. Jeanne D’Arc is helping trainees to improve their sales pitches and boost-up their confidence in selling.  

This is a great achievement we have in TWB, we don’t have to look for someone outside of our network to teach these skills- women already trained are the ones who are teaching others.

Together we can go very far. We believe in women’s potential. Women can change the world. 

Road-tripping with TWB

Stuffing my car with TWB photographs, brochures, and Rwandan-artisan crafts, I meandered across Eastern Colorado into the panhandle of Oklahoma to share our work at a training last week for church leaders across the Cimarron District of the state. I brought our recipes too, knowing that I would be baking and sharing the story behind our bread.

My grandfather has lived in this part of the state for over 20 years, and in that time, has become a prominent leader in their community - particularly when it comes to training and speaking events for the United Methodist Church. He invited me to come and take part, most specifically as an ambassador and educator for the work of The Women's Bakery. 

I prepared a lesson on Rwanda's reconciliation process in addition to the material already put together to share about The Women's Bakery. I was ready to take part; I have always loved teaching (and my grandfather would add that I have always loved talking) and doing so about The Women's Bakery is quite natural. What I wasn't prepared for, however, was the enthusiasm and engagement of the participants. 

Participants at this leadership conference came with intriguing questions and profound insights, ranging from inquiries like, "how is the increase of income for women perceived by men in the communities you work?" and "how can you measure the impact of the feeling of a woman being able to provide for her family?" 

The provision for families, the access to education, and of course, the nutritional bread were the pillars of our work that captured this particular audience the most. With many of the participants coming from small, rural communities in the United States, they could understand the importance of having a skill that provides a job - most of the audience had at some point in their life, been involved with farming and working the land! 

Our work resonated deeply with this small community and it reminded me of the importance of sharing our work with anyone. Opportunity is a big deal - no matter where you are from - and it's for this reason that I am proud to share, promote, and work for The Women's Bakery. 

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The More You Know

As a young girl in the 1990’s, I recall fondly the jingle of NBC’s “the more you know” campaign. The tagline for the major media production company invoked the possibility of exposure, knowledge, and connection that media enables the world to engage with.

Exposure in the context of The Women’s Bakery has proven no different; as we have shared our mission, vision, model, and bread with individuals, families, and groups from all walks of life, we are humbled by the commitment to actually learn about why we do what we do.

Moreover, friends of The Women’s Bakery are quick to want to get involved and in turn, share with others the importance of empowerment, education, and sustainable social enterprise.

We’ve had Rwandans in the United States testing our recipes for palette differences. Emmy, pictured below, moved to the United States last fall and during his adjustment period, has been baking bread! Below, he is pictured with our carrot bread recipe. 

We’ve received the approval of a Canadian-based culinary team-building company, Tall Order, spear-headed by Julie Burke. Julie visited Rwanda in the fall of 2015, exploring culinary opportunities for the country. 

From Arkansas to North Carolina to Texas, we have been working with impassioned followers of TWB who want to help us advocate, share, and build a business model grounded in localized, lasting change. The Volunteer Action Committee (VAC) with Hendrix College baked with us recently - to learn about our work in East Africa and to get a piece of our healthy, nutritious bread.  

We are even working closely with enthused and committed high-school, college, and graduate-level students wanting to serve as “think-tanks” and consultants for the work we are doing in Rwanda, Tanzania, and beyond.

Working within varying levels of interest and community has been an amazing experience. I’ve realized our work is not rooted only in East Africa. It’s here too! Our work involves educating on the realities of our world, and the salient possibilities for positive, lasting, meaningful development. TWB identifies as a “rogue-nonprofit” because we believe it’s possible to bring about change using refined, proven business models. We’re doing it in East Africa, and what an exciting prospect that so many others can be involved – near or far. The “more you know” the more compelled you are to make a difference. 

bread is for everyone.

The most beautiful thing about bread (the delicious taste withstanding) is that it belongs to no one. Instead, it belongs to everyone.

Bread (English), brot (German), bröd (Swedish), pan (Spanish), mkate (Swahili), or imigati (Kinyarwanda), is a staple food in nearly every culture, region, and country in the world.

Last week, while in a training session at African Community Center, a woman from Burma described the way that she would make bread at home,

“…we make ours flat, mostly with wheat flour, and with more sugar.”

Other women in the room nodded; some commented on the way they would consume the product. As for me, I spoke about some of the ingredients we use in our bread recipes – the ones that we teach in Rwanda and in Tanzania. The women at ACC wrote vigorously in their notebooks as I explained the importance of yeast and the importance of kneading. Bread isn’t altogether difficult; but it is both a science and an art, and so the process is certainly important.

After introducing the work of The Women’s Bakery to this group of 8 women, they shared their own names and places of origin. Women from Burma, Somalia, Congo, and yes – even Rwanda – gathered for “tea time”, where women at ACC are able to learn something new, or discuss things they are encountering with new life in the United States.

ACC is an organization that helps refugees rebuild lives in Denver. According to the American Immigration Council, 1 in 10 Coloradans is an immigrant, meaning approximately 500,634 individual lives have a history somewhere else. That’s powerful.

At the request of ACC, our Denver team taught one of our personal growth and development lessons, Thinking and Learning Styles. The lesson is typically taught within our programs in Rwanda, but the idea that it can be applicable and relevant stateside is an encouraging notion for our team. Our model is relevant to women – globally – and that is an exciting consideration for our growth as an organization in the future. Indeed, bread (and education and empowerment) is for everyone.