Hope Rising

Flour, salt, yeast, water… in the proper hands, simple ingredients are elevated into delicious bread.  Last week, we got to see (and taste!) this firsthand. 

A professional baker from Santiago came on Monday, and was able to share a lot of technical details with the women.  It was good to learn more about the different kinds of flour, yeast and other ingredients available to be used. 

He showed them how to make Pan de Aqua (water bread) which is a simple and tasty white bread.  Our spring intern, Sarah, who is from New York state, said it well – it tastes like the inside of a NY Bagel. 

We had some ‘oven challenges’ in the form of not having all the parts we needed to hook up the gas.  We naively thought everything would come with the stove!  It didn’t.  Thankfully, we’ve learned to always have a Plan B (and maybe Plan C and D!) and so Sarah brought the raised dough back to the SI Base to be baked.

On Thursday Margarita, a woman who lives in a nearby community, came and showed us how to make her whole wheat bread.  Margarita juggles caring for her family and working outside the home.  She also cooks and cleans for her elderly father, attends church groups and English class.  She still makes time to bake and sell her bread almost every day. 

It was good for the women to hear her story, and to see that someone with responsibilities like them has made this work.

Again, we had a challenge, as the power was out, so the blender Margarita uses to soften the trigo (wheat) didn’t work.  We put it into the dough without blending, and hoped for the best. 

Just that morning we had finally got all the parts for the oven, and soon the Site was filled with the smell of delicious baking bread.  And, it tasted as good as it smelled.  One of the women said, “I don’t really like bread, but I loved this!”

The women now have lots of information and have seen two different ways of making two different types of bread.  They seem excited, and were taking notes and asking lots of good questions. 

Of course, there are still a lot of details to figure out!  Purchasing ingredients, a schedule for production, who will be responsible for what, how and when to sell and for how much…

But, our hope is rising (pardon the pun!) as we take the next steps, confident that the Holy Spirit will guide us in whatever is His will.

This week the women plan to come and practice the techniques they’ve learned.  We’ll be sure to get some pictures!  We’re just sorry we won’t be able to send along the wonderful smell (and taste!) of the bread, too!! 

We invite you to continue to lift up El Callejon, the women, and the Panaderia project. Thank you so much! 

Bread Project

The Spanish word for bread is pan, and the place where it is baked is called a Panaderia.  One of the dreams we’ve had for the Social Work site is starting a Panaderia, where women from the community can make a quality product to help earn some money to help provide for their families.  It could also help them learn how to work together, the importance of persevering, and making and keeping goals.

Last summer, a generous church in Florida donated all its Vacation Bible School offering to the Social Work Site.  We asked them if we could use it for a “Bread Project”, including ‘spiritual’ and literal bread.  They enthusiastically said Yes!

The first ‘bread’ we purchased was a way to share the Bread of Life, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He is revealed, of course, in the Bible.  So, we bought several large print versions, as well as audio and interactive Bibles.  We also bought The Jesus Film and other dramatized Bible stories (in Spanish, of course).  It’s been wonderful to share the truth of the Bible in ways that those who have poor eyesight, or cannot read at all, can understand! 

Now, we’re moving into the second part of the Bread Project.  The kind of bread you can smear with peanut butter or make into a yummy sandwich.  Last week we bought a stove (with oven) and gas canisters.  It was delivered this week.  Along with the VBS money, another church brought measuring cups, pans, bowls, and other items this past fall.  They’ve been waiting patiently for their first use!

Si Dios quiere (the Lord willing) that will happen next week when a woman from a nearby community will come and teach our El Callejon women.  We’re excited, not only because we’ve sampled her bread (and it is delicious!) but because she lives a similar life to the women in El Callejon, and so she can connect in a way we cannot. 

Like them, she works hard, cooking, cleaning and caring for her family, and also works outside the home on weekends.  She loves Jesus, and even though life is not always easy, she has joy in Him.

We also have someone on staff who has worked for her brother who owns an actual Panaderia.  They have connections with suppliers and others who know about bread.  One of her contacts is coming to help show techniques and share a simple recipe, too! 

Our Microfinance site leader has given one lesson to the women about running a business, and we hope to have him return, as we move ahead.  We want to help the women understand that just saying they want to bake bread isn’t all it takes to make a profit. 

We feel so blessed at all of those who have contributed already.  It’s amazing how God continues to provide!  We’ve got a lot of education and training ahead of us, but vale la pena (it is worth the pain, or worthwhile).  

We know it could be something great, but we also need to go at the pace that the women can handle.  For example, they’ve learned to cook without measuring, but that doesn’t always work well with baking.  They’ve not had experience with yeast and kneading and ovens.  But, with training and desire, we know they can learn!

We invite you to pray with us as we seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance in this.  That this would truly be a blessing for El Callejon, and that we would be patient as we teach these new concepts to the women.  Please pray that we (and the women!) never lose sight of the most important Bread, the Bread of Life.