Baking for hope
A wonderful smell of fresh baked pastries pervaded the small clean house. A smell that takes you back to the smell of your mother’s backing and to precious childhood memories where you waited for your hot tasty pastry from your mother’s hand taken directly from the oven.
Ribhiya, 54 years old widowed woman; a mother of a 7th grade sponsored girl, and Ghadeer, 37 years old; mother of 7 children; two of them are sponsored, welcomed WV staff and took them to the guest room. They are both operating Al Fandaqomiya Girls School canteen. Both participated in the empowerment training course in FY13 on food processing and school canteen management.
Ribhaya started talking: “I got married when I was 41 years old and never expected to have children as my husband was 63 years old. Before getting married I was a dressmaker and I worked in a big workshop in Nablus, my home town, earning around 2,000 NIS per month. After getting marriage I had to abandon my work to serve my sick husband”. “My husband passed away in 2002 and left me a baby daughter who was only one year old and no income to rely on. I had to work again from home to provide for my little one. It was very difficult as Al Fandaqomiya is a very small village comparing to Nablus city”, said Ribhiya.
“I was always complaining from low back pain and suddenly I was hospitalized for a disc operation that made our financial situation very bad. After the recovering period, I continued my dressmaking during second Intifada’s years. The bad luck kept following me; I lost sight in my right eye in 2007 while having Astigmatism in my left eye. I was left helpless and unable to do anything to earn our living”, in tears completed Ribhiya.
Ghadeer came just in time with a fresh lemon juice while her older daughter came carrying her younger 3 months brother. She started explaining how the canteen project gave hope to Ribhiya by finding something to rely on. “The economic situation is very bad for us all. Ribhiya’s step sons in law are trying to help but they are trapped in poverty as well. She used to generate income and it was very hard for her to accept their very small contributions”, said Ghadeer.
Ghadeer with four of her children. Her Older daughter (on the left) is a sponsored child.
“The canteen project revived hope inside me to be able to provide well for my only daughter. Now I started to dream again of sending her to university and to help here follow her dreams. I don’t wait for charity from anyone anymore. I can make her dreams come true through a work that respects my disability”, in childish joy completed Ribhiya.
Ghadeer started telling her story of how the project changed her life: “I handled the school canteen since last year. At the beginning, the selling wasn’t promising and we had a meeting at the beginning of the school year at Jaba Women Society to discuss the situation. We started to have new product diversification based on our observations in the previous period of the students’ preferences. The new canteen room funded by World Vision helped our new plan a lot as sales increased sharply”.
Ghadeer happily completed: “I feel proud of myself for what I have accomplished since last year’s training with Jaba Women Society. Now, I am an excellent baker and my children are enjoying the delicious pastry I make, I create new folds and designs for what I bake and I create new recipes. I feel like a new born with huge hopes and dreams to fulfil”.
Ribhiya served tea scented with some fresh local herbs that wreaked the room and tickled the scenes while Ghadeer continued: “I was always worried about my family’s financial situation as we are a very big family (9 members) and I felt bad about myself, being a useless family member who has no education, no training or no experience. My biggest accomplishment was being able to buy two goats from my salary; I milk the goats every day and make cheese from their milk. We also use the cheese I make in our bakery. I feel more secure as I discovered what I can do to be an effective family member”.
“Since I started working in the school canteen, I started to dream and started to follow those dreams. I want to have a big herd of goats to use their milk in our pastries, I dream to establish a strong women society in Al Fandaqumiya to serve the marginalized voiceless women and I dream to be able to support all my children in universities”, completed Ghadeer.
It seems that the project succeeded in spreading hope and optimism in both of the ladies and their family’s lives and all over the place with the smell of the pastries. The hope even spread all over the school, between the teachers, students and their families.
Amina, 36 mother of a 7th grader at the school says: “My daughter Yasmin, who suffered from Anemia, is stubborn and very difficult to satisfy. She never has breakfast and she refuses to take a homemade sandwich to school and spent all her allowance on un-healthy food” said Amina. “When I heard that the school canteen is offering pastry and healthy food, I encouraged her to buy from it but she refused and this was the case till the end of the first semester when a friend of her bought a cheese pastry and offered her some, and surprisingly she liked it. She likes Falafel sandwich, cheese pastry and Pizza and I am very pleased as I know that the food is fresh, clean and healthy”
The real impact of the project exceeded Ribhiya and Ghadeer to reach tens of women and their families, more than 2,000 school students, their families and the whole community. The story of these two women summarizes the importance of empowering vulnerable rural women to build healthier, better educated, and more peaceful and more prosperous societies.