Baking

The Road to Ifakara

in

Annemarie:

Well I knew we would have to have some mud at some point but wow, this is a bit much. It’s raining hard and we’re driving down a road that a website has said could be impassable in the rainy season. Martin is in a ‘determined’ mood, Hector is less sure and keeps on with his not-starting tactic which makes us very reluctant to turn the engine off. This is resulting in some long, unrelenting drives.

Ifakara is not on the beaten track, in fact we’re amazed at the amount of traffic that is also plunging down this muddy river/road; why are they all going to Ifakara?  Buses are the worst. On the main Tanzam highway they have been driving crazily fast and literally pushing other drivers off the road on narrow stretches. It’s all made worse by a news report we saw a couple of days ago of a bus in a head-on collision with a couple of trucks, killing 43 immediately but with the death toll rising by the day. We thought we’d escape them on this smaller offshoot of a road but no, one ploughs straight past us and a broken down truck in front of us, shooting great washes of muddy water over the people trying to mend the truck and virtually toppling into the ditch at the side of the road. We crawl past the truck and check they’re OK, at least we’re behind the bus now. The rain gets worse, the windscreen wipers can’t really keep up, please let us arrive soon.

Then suddenly it stops and we’re pulling into a small but bustling town, looking for a convent. There’s a huge brick church at the end of a muddy road and we draw to a halt. A nun wearing a habit as dark grey as the sky but with a radiant smile greets us “We’ve been waiting for you! Come in!” Sister Olimpia is incredibly welcoming. We’ve come to see yet another (thank you Martin) bakery. This one is run by the nuns and since 2001, when the ovens were shipped in, it has been running profitably, selling to those who can afford to pay, with bread  given to the very poorest in the community.  

Sister Olimpia shows us through the side door of the convent to the bakery itself. The warm smell of bread is all that remains of the day’s activities so we admire the inactive mixer and the huge ovens. As I snap a picture she dashes off to grab a friend, Sister Hilda. They’re quite bubbly with the idea that we have come all the way down this road in the rain to see them and the bakery. Have we seen their new building? No, Ok, we’ll take a look. It’s going to be a much bigger shop and store and an office base for the business. Money for the building work is a problem but it’s coming in gradually.

The Ifakara bakery is the brain-child of Eugene and Margaret Schellenberg. They first visited their son and his wife and family, who were young doctors working in the area, in 1998 and were horrified at the child mortality rate – a real indicator of true poverty. They wanted to set up the bakery to provide a source of food that would be available even when the maize crop failed. So, they raised funds over the next two years, bought and shipped in ovens, trained the sisters and helped them develop the market. They then handed over the running completely. The business rapidly became self-sustaining and so their role is now to oversee the accounts and fund raise to enable the bakery to give free bread to schools, the hospital, an orphanage and a leprosy centre.

Eugene and Margaret’s son and daughter in law are now respectively Prof. of Malaria at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Prof. of Epidemiology also at the LSHTM.  I wonder if they know Andrew and Madeleine Bastawrous - what a small world!

A Sliced White for Education

in

Annemarie:

“Why are we going here? Is it somewhere we can stay? It’s another bakery isn’t it?” Martin is non-plussed. I am having to sneak bakery visits into the schedule as we begin to squeeze our timeline a little; the end of our journey is in sight now, every day and every place we visit is being carefully decided, but this is a place I really want to see. ‘I’m sure you’ll love it and it’s not far out of our way…” I cajole.

Rhotia Valley Lodge and Children’s Home were set up by Marisa and George in 2007, with the concept from the start of developing a project that could fund itself.  Now, just seven years on, they have two thriving organisations, which seem to be totally self-sustaining. The lodge itself is beautiful, tastefully designed and fitting really well into the local landscape, perched on a hillside bordering the Ngororogo Conservation Area. The tented rooms are perfect and attract a range of people who will pay for the privilege of staying in a sought after area, under canvas and yet with all the luxury of a five star setting – and with wonderful fresh bread at the table night and morning. Yes, there’s a bakery! It’s been built into the business model and provides regular loaves bought by the local community plus a wholemeal version baked for the lodge guests. The profits from the bakery fund the secondary education of the children in the Rhotia Valley home and other children from the Rhotia Valley community. The running costs of the home itself are funded by 20% of the turnover of the lodge.

Marisa greets us enthusiastically when we arrive and talks through some of the teething problems of setting up and their ideals and philosophy: They were both doctors in the Netherlands and after working in Africa wanted to do something that was a permanent positive influence with a real legacy. So they diversified, transitioning from hospitals to hospitality with a strong ethos of local involvement and engagement. It’s an impressive list of achievements in only seven years.

Early next day I explore the bakery with their wonderful Italian manager, Valerio. I meet the master baker and manager Habibu and his team, Anatol and Yusuf and watch as they deftly cut and shape the dough for two batches of loaves while we talk about the marketing of the bread with seller Ezekial. At present the most popular loaf is still the white sliced and even a diversification to add pumpkin seeds on the top wasn’t popular. The message is that to make the profits they need to fund the children’s education they had to listen to what’s in demand now and take any steps towards a healthier product very slowly.  The bread is branded ‘Bread for Education’ with bags printed with this message so it’s unmistakably a purchase that will have benefits over and above any other similar products in the marketplace.

George picks up the story when we get back to lodge, he describes their scheme to incentivise the local teachers and improve standards of tuition, paying a bonus direct to teachers based on their attendance, pupil achievements and classroom facilities. And it doesn’t stop there; some of the youngsters are now reaching the point of leaving school. One wants to be a pilot but others have more local ambitions and to provide another arm to the set up, George and Marisa have developed a roadside café. It will cater to the passing tourist bus trade and will employ local youngsters, giving them a qualification and a start in the catering and tourism business, which is becoming increasingly important in the Tanzanian economy.

Today it’s George’s birthday and in the absence of a cake, Valerio, who is teaching a group of students to make a pasta sauce, decorates it with some mushrooms in the shape of his age and we all gather round for a taste and to wish George well. He deserves more plaudits, he and Marisa are creating something which is tangibly succeeding, benefiting not only the young orphans of the area but also its wider community, creating employment and motivation. Many happy returns George and thank you for sharing your story.

Coffee Houses of Nairobi

in

Annemarie:

What a treat, a cappuccino and a chance to meet and talk with an inspiring young woman who is determined to do her bit to tackle social issues in Kenya.

I am in a café in Nairobi waiting to meet Maggie Muthuma who is  founding director of AM Café:  AM Café is a small start up social enterprise that sells all manner of things from brownies and sumptuous chocolate cakes to chapatis and soup but is not your usual coffee shop. For one thing at the moment it doesn’t have any premises, the baking happens in people’s homes and is sold to order. But that’s not the only difference; Maggie arrives and enthusiastically explains. Her vision is to create a space for people to discuss and decide on ways to address society’s pressing social and economic challenges. Much like the coffee houses of the 1700s in London, which were a hotbed for debates, she hopes to create a means of people finding a voice and creating some collective action or simply finding a way forward as an individual. So far the business is in early days and she has held just a handful of discussion sessions but she’s already helping one person take up a place at catering college and find a job that’s fulfilling her ambition. As Maggie says, it may be small steps initially but empowering people to help themselves then supporting them in their journey through peers and ‘buddies’ is a very viable option in today’s Africa where the concept of aid and financial support sees so many projects start strong then fail.

All over Africa we have been hearing similar stories and I am provided with a lot of food for thought as I make my way through the affluent crowds in the shopping centre. I am sure it’s the people like Maggie, determined to make their own way and to help others in their society realise their potential that will move the agenda in Africa forward.

The Ujima Bakery rises to the occasion

in

Annemarie:

It’s a BIG day on the baking front: the opening of the bakery that has inspired me to focus on community bakeries and cafés as we travel through Africa. 

The scent of the dough wafts out of the tiny bakery as we drive into the lodge site at Maili Saba; there is no mistaking we are in the right place. As if on cue, a curly haired bundle of boy-energy runs across the grass – that’s Lucas, I recognize him from the photos on Madeleine’s blog site eyebakekenya and chasing fast behind him is Ben, the baker from E5 Bakehouse in North London who is supporting the set up and training the local team. We’re welcomed with open arms and – excitingly - a piece of sourdough toast with avocado and egg, by Brian. He’s now going to be the brains behind the development of the business as well as a master baker. Behind him Justin begins to don his baker’s white jacket, and as a nod to today’s importance, a baker’s hat.

Ujima bakery was the brainchild of Madeleine and Andrew Bastawrous. It’s a social enterprise providing skills development, employment and of course healthy high quality bread. The big plus is that part of its profits help fund eye operations in the nearby St Mary’s hospital.  (As well as baking entrepreneurs, Madeleine and Andrew are both doctors and Andrew has developed the innovative eye health diagnostic tool using a mobile phone (PEEK) and trials for this system explain why they were in Kenya in the first place  - and why eye operations are part of the picture.)

As we watch Brian and Justin knead and shape the dough that will soon be the loaves for the opening feast, Madeleine arrives with her new baby, Elena, on her hip. It’s very exciting to hear more of the story behind the bakery from the woman who began the baking bug here. I hand over my banana cake gift, this time I cheated and cooked it in a real over so it is edible. Lucas approves, so does Ben, thank goodness.

Amid a flurry of exclamations of delight, more guests arrive and we melt into the background a little: Rosalinde, an ophthalmic nurse and a true force of nature gives massive ‘clap’ handshakes to everyone and hugs to Madeleine; Redempta, the director of the bakery bustles in in organising mode – she’s a problem solver extraordinaire and is the one who has made the day happen. Swiftly the area fills up with more guests and now the film crew from Mazda are here, capturing the event for their website in recognition of a grant made to PEEK and the bakery. It’s a very jolly affair, then the dignitaries roll up in swish cars, we all stare a bit, we’re amazed they made it down the bumpy track.

Things happen in quick succession now: ribbons are arranged; bread comes out of the oven; flour is swept up; more guests are welcomed; extra film crew line up. Finally Lucas hands over the big scissors to the dignitary and snip, Ujima Bakery is declared open. Ben hands out some bread and we all pause as the ‘Big Man’ tastes it...Hooray, he likes it and we all get a taste too. It’s heaven, two types of sourdough made with wild yeasts from the Maili Saba area.  Oh, I am SO happy to be part of this big day.

New Year in Uganda with Dutch Doughnuts

in

Annemarie:

Without the views of the Rwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the Moon) Fort Portal in North West Uganda won’t blow your socks off but it does have a great deal of charm with some Dutch and Asian influences and was the base for our New Year.

The mountains were shrouded in mist for most of our visit but on New Year’s Eve afternoon we didn’t care, we were headed for town in search of parts to help us repair our Land Rover’s water tank tap, which had developed a serious leak.  From a standing start we tried the first hardware shop we came across. No joy, but the owner was a gem and directed us to another shop in the parallel street. OK, brilliant, he was right and one part of the jig-saw puzzle of our tap joint was solved but we needed some plumbers tape and another pipe. Across the street we found the tape and they knew exactly where we could get the pipe.  This last port of call felt unpromising from the outside but once inside it was like an Aladdin’s cave, stacked from ceiling to floor with shelves overflowing with stock. The two young Asian lads behind the counter looked as though they were just minding the shop for their dad, but we were so wrong; they knew what we were asking for straight away and then when their first offered pipe wasn’t the right fit they sought out a metal flexi-pipe and a joint and cut it to size. Amazing service.

Next stop was a café, we needed a caffeine intake and we’d heard that a relatively new restaurant, the Dutchess was the best in town. Oh were we pleased with that coffee! The best cappuccino since Kigali and we were also offered some traditional Dutch New Year cakes, hmm, this New Year was shaping up in my kind of (cake-influenced) way. And then we met the bakers of these wonderful delicacies as they were beginning to make pizza dough and of course a story began to unfold. The restaurant was set up by a Dutch couple who had been travelling through Africa and decided Fort Portal was THE place to put down roots and set up a business. They source food as locally as possible, have trained the bakers with input from Italian expertise, set up their own dairy, trained and developed the staff and encouraged them to gain skills and qualifications and are supporting young people in their efforts to earn university fees by paying them good wages and selling art and craft work in the restaurant. It could have been a second ‘Heaven’. How wonderful to meet another like-minded team of people so soon after our wonderful Kigali experience. Heleen Meijer, the owner was such a generous hostess and talked to us with passion about what they are doing and want to achieve and her team was a testament to her belief in the business.

By complete coincidence we were staying for New Year’s Eve with another wonderfully hospitable Dutch woman – Ineke Jongorious at the Rwenzori View and when we got back from our outing we were offered a drink and …Oliebollen! One can never have too many in my newly converted eyes so here’s a link to Nigella’s recipe for Oliebollen  - although in both instances we had raisins in ours which are a delicious addition so here’s an alternative from Jamie.

And to work it all off on New Year's Day we took an 18 km walk up to the crater lake outside Fort Portal.

Christmas in Heaven

in

Annemarie:

After Christmas eve in Rwanda’s National Genocide Museum we perhaps needed a little light relief and so pampered ourselves spending Christmas itself in Heaven. We haven’t been angelic enough for the real thing so we settled for a wonderful restaurant with rooms in the leafy presidential suburb of Kigali, but it was pretty heavenly: hot showers, comfy beds and great food and what’s more it was another ethical choice. 

Heaven was set up by Alissa Ruxin, an American who was originally volunteering in Rwanda for ‘Generation Rwanda’, an organisation providing university scholarships for orphans. She decided to set up a business that would provide vocational training and employment for young adults and ‘Heaven’ was born! There’s a whole book telling the story of what Alissa, her husband Josh and the team at Heaven have achieved  A Thousand Hills to Heaven and Martin kindly bought it for me for Christmas. The restaurant and rooms were juts the start, now the craft shop, art gallery, events and sourcing of local ingredients really bring a community together and provide a means of visitors to Rwanda making a contribution and for local people to support communities and small farm producers. They are still developing and this year are setting up the ‘Heaven Hospitality Academy’ courses so, more power to their elbow! Their team was certainly made our Christmas Day and Boxing Day very special. Read more about them or make contact at Heaven

 I explained how many other enterprises we have discovered in our travels and they are very happy for any of them to get in touch for advice or to share experiences.

Rwanda's Sweet Dreams

in

Annemarie:

OK, so I’m supposed to be looking for community bakeries but how could I resist locally made ice-cream? We discovered a fabulous café, Inzozi Nziza, in Huye, Southern Rwanda, set up in 2010. It serves the most delicious cinnamon ice-cream, locally produced coffee and of course cakes and biscuits. We had to visit three times (for a consistency test of course) and I can say that the banana bread is consistently delicious and a lot better than my recent attempts.

The café’s profits go to support a cooperative of women from a drumming group called Ingoma Nshya and the women we met, including Louise in the middle of the pic, told me about their work and how happy they are with what their project is achieving.

The name of the café, Inzozi Nziza, translates as Sweet Dreams and the project has featured in a film of the same title created in 2012 Sweet Dreams. It tells the story of how a Rwandan theatre director, Kiki Kitese, set up the women’s drumming group to help those widowed and orphaned after the 1994 genocide. On a visit to New York she enjoyed ice cream at a Brooklyn ice-creamery and invited the owners to help her set up a shop in Rwanda. The film traces the path of the women in the drumming group and their involvement in setting up the café and ice cream shop, giving an insight to what they suffered and how they are recovering - as well as the joy of drumming and ice-cream!

 Chatel who served us is on the right of the pic and gave her email in case anyone wants to contact the café for more information.

 

Hmmm, ice-cream and cake supporting social change; that can’t be bad!

Zambia Bakes

in

Annemarie:

OK, my ambition to ‘wild bake’ as I travel through Africa and to discover more about the baking traditions of each country is proving harder to fulfill than I first thought.

My initial brush with baking in Namibia saw me completely ripped off in a streetside village bakery in the middle of the bush. Lovely people but they saw the Mzunga (white woman) coming and I didn’t know about bargaining at that point. The result was a sickly sweet and oily loaf, which cost the equivalent of a large sliced in the UK.  Eventually we gave most of it away to four young boys. They asked for sweets but when presented with bread were over the moon and ran off chanting ‘bread, bread’ and fighting each other for the biggest chunk.

Our second encounter was much more encouraging, in the small town of Mazabuka, centre for the sugar growing district of Zambia. We had driven through wheat, cane and coffee fields, past tankers carrying molasses that reminded me of a red and black treacle tin, past monumental, heavily loaded lorries, past hundreds of cyclists bent double, carrying heavy sacks over their cross-bar.  Then we came upon the Bethlehem Bakery; good heavens, what an amazing place – freshly baked focaccia, french sticks, muffins and lovely light bread rolls.  The manager, Jack Michelo proudly showed me behind the scenes, they had just baked the focaccia in the morning shift and it smelt divine. Most of the bread is baked overnight and sells very quickly next morning so it’s a successful little business and what’s more, this is a social enterprise. The ovens, original premises and set up were funded by the St Bakhita Catholic Church and its supporters but now all the profits go to help the local vulnerable communities. One of their expert bakers has recently spent 6 months in Italy honing his craft so it has great parallels with the ‘Eye Bake’ team in Kenya. www.eyebakekenya.com

Inspired, I finally got round to trying to bake Nigella’s banana bread in our camp oven.  Although a bit burnt on the bottom, once trimmed, I had high hopes and proudly offered Martin first taste. “Rather like chewing on a burnt stick!” was his reaction. The remains were fed to chickens, or rather, offered first to a goat, then, when it turned up its nose, sprinkled around for some chickens. They didn’t exactly mob me for more, it really was too smokey.