The Bakery Project

The living conditions in Afghanistan outside of the large cities are quite primitive because of the widespread destruction caused by the 25 years of war. There is no infrastructure such as electricity, running water, or natural gas nor is there any type of education system. This is the case in Parwan province where one of the orphanages that ARYA supports in located. ARYA’s literacy programs are ongoing in Parwan at this time and the demand for the classes is great. The widows of Parwan requested that ARYA build a bakery so that the time they previously spent collecting wood, lighting the fire for the oven and baking bread could be instead spent attending literacy classes and caring for their children. ARYA is proud to announce that this request has been met.

The land for the bakery was donated by one of the villagers and the money needed for the building was supplied by ARYA. We donated $700.00 to the Youth and Children’s Development Program, our implementing volunteer partner in Afghanistan which they used to pay salaries for Afghan villagers to build the structure and to purchase the building materials and the wood-fired oven for baking. In two weeks time, the bakery project was completed and is now already in operation.

The project is self-sustaining in that one person is responsible for baking the dough that the village women bring. The small amount of money charged for the baking service is divided equally to pay the baker while the other half is given to support the Parwan orphanage. In addition, flour donated either by the province or the villagers is used by the baker to make fresh bread for the orphanage both morning and evening, without cost to them.

This type of project not only provides much needed job opportunities, but also helps to provide a sense of hope and self-determination to the villagers and especially the widows who wish to attend ARYA’s literacy classes.