The Worldwide Blogger Bake Off

by Lauren Roodt

“I’m sorry maam but would you like to take another loaf of bread. This one is bad” said the cashier to my mom. “On no-no I’m sure it’s fine. The girls have been picking at it non-stop!” my mum laughed. My sister and I could always be found sitting in the trolley, straddling a loaf of bread and devouring almost all of it before we reached the till. The smell from the bakery would hit us the moment we walked into Pick ‘n Pay. The fresh, warm, yeasty aroma of hot-out-of-the-oven bread was intoxicating. We would attack the crust first. Then plunge our greedy fists into its warm fleshy heart and pull out chucks of the still steaming white dough. As we dug deeper a small wall of crust would develop and we would launch our attack onto that. And so the process went until our stomachs were swollen and content.

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But sadly, my childhood memories are not shared by so many people of South Africa. Too many families are living below the breadline and the only memory a child has of bread is of the loaf which was handed to him through the Mercedes’ window. This is where you can play a part. Breadline Africa and The World-wide Blogger Bake Off are looking to develop a number of community kitchens by transforming shipping containers into places of food production and distribution. These kitchens will provide food to the destitute as well as create job opportunities in the poor communities. This is a charity to get involved in where you will actually do more than just donate money. You will actually be changing a life.

If you wish to make a donation, click here to fill in a simple form. I know too well that the majority of Rhodes students will happily blow R100 on alcohol in one night so perhaps donate the R100 to Breadline Africa instead of going out next week (it is swot week and you should be staying in anyway). Go on, it will be your good deed for the week. And if you are a blogger join the initiative and spread the news. God knows we need all the help we can get to alleviate South Africa’s poverty.