Sometimes friends and family close to me are surprised by my openness to people who “show up” at the bakery for work or help or information. I agree that I allow myself to be more vulnerable by engaging, but my experience has been that enormous positivity has come from this and so far very little damage, if any. It’s a risk I prefer to keep taking.
Ayelet Berman-Cohen is one of those people. She first called me in 2019. Her husband is a lifelong friend of another Zingerman’s partner, and they sent her my way. Since then we have helped her in small ways. I am inspired by the work Ayelet and her team are doing in Uganda and want to share their story with you. Bakeries are the cornerstones of communities all over the world in many different ways. Today let’s celebrate how Adama is helping thousands of refugees in Uganda and the power of letting our dreams lead us! Many thanks to Jessica Steinhoff for crafting this story.
–Amy Emberling, Zingerman’s Bakehouse Co-Managing Partner
Bread is a given for most Americans. We don’t give it much thought when we pop a slice in the toaster or toss a loaf in the shopping cart. We don’t worry that it might disappear. It’s quite the opposite at the Oruchinga Refugee Settlement Camp. Located in southern Uganda, near the Tanzania border, it currently offers shelter to more than 9,000 displaced people. Many have lost loved ones and witnessed unthinkable violence as war and natural disasters forced them from their homes. Subsisting on one meal a day is common, and sometimes even that is out of reach. Finding a way forward is impossible when you can’t quiet a trauma-gripped mind or a grumbling stomach. Bread is the start of something better, and it symbolizes so much more.
The loaves of bread and rolls from Oruchinga’s bakery are fuel for the journey to a safer, simpler existence. This bustling kitchen turns refugees into professional bakers and pays them a steady income as they make food for the refugee community in Oruchinga. The Adama Foundation, which launched this project in 2020, aims to relieve hunger at the camp and provide empowering paths to stability. Zingerman’s Bakehouse is proud to be one of the first organizations that lent a hand. We shared lots of advice about running a bakery early on. We also sent Sara Molinaro, our lead BAKE! instructor at the time, to the Oruchinga bakery in 2021.
Sara has gone on to run Hewn, a Chicago-area artisan bread bakery, but she’ll never forget this transformative experience. “On Day One, all 20 refugee women had never baked before, but by Day Nine, they were selling their bread and receiving extremely positive feedback from their customers,” she explained in a diary entry about her time at the camp. “They were sharing their bread with children and feeding people. That was incredible to see. The disconnect between knowing that we can coexist on a planet where both Oruchinga and BAKE! exist is profound.”
Adama Inspiration and Ingredients
Adama was started by Ayelet Berman‑Cohen, whose childhood in Israel was shaped by destabilizing conflict. “I’m not a baker, but I am a dreamer,” she says, describing a dream that inspired the foundation. “My whole life, a lot of my dreams have been about the possibility of the end of war. In one of these dreams, a group of Palestinian women made delicious pita bread and fed it to me. The people I’d seen as the enemy for so many years were nourishing and comforting me.”
This realization was a watershed moment. Ayelet set out to nourish and comfort others wounded by war, especially those she’d labeled as enemies in the past. She initially hoped to launch Adama in Lebanon, but it turned out to be unfeasible. When her seven children learned of this mission, one of them, an adopted daughter born in Kenya, suggested that she focus on Africa. The refugee situation there is especially complex. Uganda hosts over 1.7 million refugees, a larger number than any other African nation. It’s also a more welcoming place than most, letting refugees grow crops on the land and form their own communities.
Friends and family led Ayelet to Angella Kushemererwa and Sophie Nakayiza, aid professionals working in the Oruchinga camp. A relationship formed through a shared sense of purpose and blossomed over the course of countless Zoom meetings. Now both women lead the Adama team in Oruchinga. Angella specializes in operations, administration, and finance. Sophie works as a trauma rehabilitation counselor. They’ve both learned how to bake as well.
“Soon after I started working at Oruchinga, I became aware of how many people are struggling to heal because of hunger,” Sophie says. “Angella and I automatically knew that Ayelet’s dream of starting a bakery needed to come to reality. We saw how it could help the most vulnerable people at the camp, especially women and children.”
One of these women is Clementine Mukamana. Healing felt more possible the moment she stepped into the bakery’s first training class. “I was pregnant and worried how my baby would survive after birth because I could not afford even a single meal,” she explains. “I gave birth to a healthy baby. I am healthy being a new mom, and this is because of the great care I receive at the bakery. My baby is better off because I’m psychologically stable.” Plus, Clementine’s salary improves her family’s access to food, education, medical care, and more.
The kinds of struggles Clementine has faced are typical at Oruchinga. Though residents receive some provisions from the World Food Program, many women and children aren’t getting enough nutrition each day. Plus, a number of vital resources have vanished, adding desperation to an already-dire situation. The dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) earlier this year severed lifelines for many people in Uganda, especially its large refugee populations from Burundi, Congo, Rwanda, and South Sudan. Oruchinga is feeling the effects, Sophie says. In other words, the need for support is greater than ever.
Benefits Beyond Bread
Some of the most vulnerable women from Oruchinga’s refugee population work in the Adama bakery. They face many barriers beyond hunger and post-traumatic stress. It’s easy to become stuck. The training, food, and hope Adama provides can help them get unstuck.
Ayelet says that both the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and USAID left Oruchinga around the same time this year, which created an extremely precarious situation. “It was so drastic and acute that we had to do something,” she explains. This has led to several new Adama projects. One buys maize from locals and grinds it into flour using Adama’s own milling machine. The flour then gets distributed to 50 of the area’s neediest families, along with a reliable supply of beans. Another project distributes porridge and baked goods to 1,000 malnourished children each month.
Adama has also helped nearly a dozen of its bakers renovate their mud-brick homes, which were damaged by incessant rains. The generosity of private donors, commercial bakeries, and other supporters helps fund these initiatives. A portion of the donations is used to purchase the equipment and supplies the bakery needs to become self-sustaining, while another part goes toward feeding the hungry children of Oruchinga.
Most of the camp lacks electricity and clean water, but Ayelet is developing a vision that includes bringing safe drinking water to Oruchinga. She recently attended a ZingTrain visioning seminar to learn the Zingerman’s visioning process, which she plans to teach to Adama’s employees.
“I imagine the whole camp coming to life. We are digging wells, collecting rainwater, and creating permaculture gardens to grow food. We mill our own wheat and corn. We supply solar ovens to the refugee women to cook for their families. There is a sense of community,” she says. “When I shared this with Angella and Sophie, they told me it sounds like a fairy tale. The way everything has come together is magical.”
You can help Adama’s vision become a reality at the Oruchinga refugee camp. Learn more about the foundation and donate to the bakery today! Every dollar makes a difference.
Jessica Steinhoff is a copywriter at Zingerman’s Creative Services with a zest for authentic storytelling and meaningful connection. Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she loves to geek out about cheese, coffee, and pastries. Outside of Zingerman’s, Jessica owns her own copywriting business and works as a psychotherapist.
Ayelet is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. If there were more “Ayelets” in our world, it would be a much better world