A loaf of bread can help rid hunger in poor communities

In a township like Kliptown, which is where the Constitution of South Africa was adopted at, poverty thrives.  Levels of poverty and unemployment are shocking but little is been done by the South African government to fast track change.

But Jerry Tebogo Marobyane didn’t fold his arms and wait for the government for the people of Kliptown, he brought solutions in a form of the bakery, which also provides nutritious meals to homeless people in the area.

The bread initiative is an idea that was started in Poland before it was brought to South African by Marobyane and his team. Tomek Wysokiński, a filmmaker, who was on a work trip in Soweto, was touched by a group of small children who ate moldy bread which he described as the worst possible quality as a staple food.

Marobyane was tasked with starting the South African branch of the foundation.

According to an article published by Beautiful News, Marobyane was homeless for some time before leaving the country to become a soldier during the Apartheid years, a dark time in South African history.

“When Marobyane returned to South Africa, apartheid had ended, but he saw the hardships facing his community. In Soweto, food is scarce and unemployment is plentiful. But with his bakery, Marobyane is ensuring no one misses a meal,” the article reported.

Marobyane was quoted saying it became important for him to better the lives of the homeless when seeing kids going to school on an empty stomach.

His desire to see change in the community of Kliptown led him to relocate to Poland where he met Wysokiński who taught him how to run an artisan restaurant, some of the skills he passed on to those he trained at the Kliptown bakery.

“It is important to help the community because the community needs dedicated and passionate people,” he says. The comforting aroma of sourdough bread and pastries now permeate Kliptown, welcoming people from all walks of life. “My aim is not only to see the children of Soweto having their lives changed, but to see change in the children of South Africa,” Marobyane said.

Editor’s note:

Jerry Marobyane started a bakery on Kliptown, about 17 km south-west of Johannesburg, to help struggling families to worry less about buying bread as his bakery would provide. The bread foundation model was first conceptualised in Poland by the founder of the organisation, Tomek Wysokiński.

Description:

Mkate Bread Foundation ensures that people of Kliptown, a township near Soweto, are provided with bread – something that has become a luxury to those who can’t afford it.

Editor: Thato Mahlangu

Project manager: Anirlè de Meyer