The only bread baked in Luvungi, a town of 50,000 people situated 50 kms south of Bukavu, is produced by a women’s co-operative called FDRS. Before November last year- when we helped them buy a generator and bread mixer - the women made the bread by hand, which was hard work and limited their production capacity.
It was good bread that was quickly sold to people living nearby. But Luvungi is a big town and those who missed out had to travel many kilometres across the border to a town in Rwanda to buy alternative bread.
The FDRS group leader is Claude Bisimwa. He approached Luminosity with a proposal to buy a generator and use a local metal worker to make the mixer. He argued that the increase in productivity would be sufficient to repay the loan and we agreed.
The women are showing how much can be done with just a little financial help and are now producing five times more bread than before. Plus they have set up their own boulangerie. The bread still tastes great and more people in Luvungi are now able to enjoy something good to eat in the morning.