The Bread Oven in Archita

Hope for a Roma community

The Bread Oven project is bringing hope and purpose to many in Archita, a Roma community in Romania.

Darius and Nicoleta, both eight years old, are friends with something in common. They were both abandoned by their parents and raised by grandparents in a remote village in Romania. Grass grows over the railway lines, houses are dilapidated, and little seems to develop or move forward. 

Today Darius’s grandmother is up early – and Darius and Nicoleta are making their way towards the church to see her. Darius’s grandmother is a volunteer at a Bread Oven project, started up by Mission Without Borders (MWB) and the local Baptist Church. 

In a village that can feel as though it has no purpose, the oven is becoming a point of interest and a small hub of development. Skills that people have taken for granted such as kneading the dough or knowing the exact timings and temperatures for baking it have found a place to flourish. 

After the bread is placed in the oven, the women take care to clean the dough trays thoroughly. “These will be used another day so they have to be very clean,” the grandmother says. The children are eager to help.

Everyone brings what they can to the table.

"This project is a great source of help to families in this village living in poverty.  Everyone brings what they can to the table. We make the bread three times a week."

“Since our work with the Bread Oven project started, we have seen more families coming together,” said Pastor Rohan, of the Baptist Church. “People have shown more interest in attending church gatherings since they see us doing something practical and showing our love proactively.”  

Darius and Nicoleta are excited and happy to each take home a warm loaf of fresh bread – a food that symbolises to them the love and support they have come to know through MWB and the Baptist Church.  

With the help of our supporters, we can reach more people in Archita with the Bread Oven project, develop more skills, provide freshly baked bread and support families who need it. And one day, instead of being a forgotten village, it is our prayer that Archita will be known for its love, hope and purpose in Christ – and of course, its wonderful bread. 

1 in 10

One in ten children in Romania's rural areas go to bed hungry.

(Source: The Romanian-Insider.com)

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