A bakery for the women of Thambahal tole
Classic example of successful help for self help

The bakery workshop

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Even prior to the total completion of the extension the oven for baking bread and cakes, a wok to make doughnuts and a mixing and kneading machine was procured by using the donations from Germany. The women  insisted on starting immediately their baking trials in the shell building. Additional equipment i.e. a kerosine-cooker, a gas-cooker and some cake tins were bought using the cooperative share money of the women. Even after a short time the bakery had a small profit and the share money could be given back to the families.

After completion of the building during winter 2007 the basic equipment of the bakery was bought from the donations of Nepalhilfe Kirtipur based on a detailed list of demand: refrigerator, shelves, cake tins, multi-function cooking machine, furniture like cupboard, tables and chairs. Further completion will be done step by step.

Today the bakery offers secure jobs for four young women (still in 2012). They are working daily from 03:00 a.m. to 08:00 a.m. The bread, cakes and pastries are delivered to many shops in the vicinity and families in the neighbourhoods. Three times a week doughnut are sold in the afternoon to feed the employees of the restaurant "Newa Lahana"
The other women who have finished the training seminars are currently working for the Newari-Restaurant "Newa Lahana" or  are in maternity. As the bakery does not yet make enough profit to employ more women for the time being the bakery is operated by four women only.

Two elder men from Thambahal are helping to deliver the bakery products to the customers. It is considered to employ one more man to sell the products also on the campus of the near by Tribhuvan University. On request the women are also  producing nice birthday cakes.

The bakery is managed together with the restaurant and the Open Air Museum by a cooperative committee consisting of 11 inhabitants from Thambahal,  5 of them are women, one is employed in the bakery.

Even in 2008 some women have learned in an other seminar the making of non-perishable cookies. This was to extend the range of products of the bakery. It is also planned to establish a little shop in Thambahal to sell the bakery products.

February 2009:

The economic troubles of the country, caused by instable political circumstances that must be seen despite the democratic elections from April and also caused by a long drought since summer 2008, have  made collapsing the electric energy supply of the country at the beginning of 2009.
While during the years before people got used to the fact that electricity had been available regionally or district-wise  in an interval of 4 hours only , since early 2009 the daily power cuts took place for up to 14 hours within the whole Kathmandu Valley at the same time.

This uncertainty of power supply is quite a "desaster" for "our" bakery using an electric oven. The production of braed, cakes and pastries at fixed times cannot be guarantied, the regular customers  give up and try to supply themselves alternatively. There is no regular work anymore. The  bakery stuff made in gas-driven deep fryers is not yielding profit so the monthly income of the four women in fixed jobs decreased from about 20 Euro down to 6 Euro only.

The people of Thambahal see only one way out of the dilemma. That is the procurement of a generator strong enough to at least partly bridge the power cuts. The costs for the fuel could be covered by the profit from the restaurant "Newa Lahana".  However only a small portion of the total cost price is available as  capital recourses of the people of Thambahal.

I therefore decided on an additional financial support by Nepalhilfe Kirtipur. In April 2009 total 1.200 Euro were transferred to the account of the bakery, about 80% of the cost price for a generator which is suitable to operate one of the two stages of the bakery oven.

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Reasons of the project