The Bakery Project

What started out as a banana birthday cake for Josiah Harnish, wound up meeting a big need. We also learned that something a simple as baking, can open the eyes for someone to see a glimpse of hope for their future.

“What do you have in your hands?” This was the questions we were asking when we began using our tiny toaster oven as a way to generate a small income to keep us going as a ministry. We began baking banana bread for staff meetings, pastor’s meetings, for the street kids and then for selling at market. This income began helping us with the expenses of day-to-day operations. Later on we upgraded to a full size oven.

In 2020, the lock downs created a serious issue among young girls. as schools were closed for 2 years, many of them walked through some challenging situations where they found themselves pregnant. We were able to gather many from a area nearby and invite them into a bakery training to help them learn to support themselves as most of them will not go back to school. The youngest participant was only 13 years old. The girls spent 3 months with us, earning a certificate of completion for level 1 baking. Some of them can now be found selling their goods on market days in Paidha!

“Through the Titus Centre Ministries bakery program, I learned to make banana bread and that I had other options than selling my body to support my family.”

— Annette

Moving forwards, we eagerly await the time we will move into our new place as it has a great kitchen and oven. We also will have the opportunity in the future to build a large local brick oven. This allows us to meet a bigger demands for our baked items as well as offer more baking classes through the Trade School!