The east London bakery training isolated refugee women in the art of baking sourdough

Ella Wills26 November 2017

An independent east London bakery is offering training to refugee women who find themselves alone and isolated after coming to the capital.

Just Bread project is a collaborative scheme between the Refugee Council and E5 Bakehouse in Hackney, which is designed to support the training and employment of refugee women.

Now training its fifth group, the project aims to settle newcomers to the UK through teaching established bread making techniques in this country.

Four women previously trained on the course are now employed at E5 Bakehouse's new cafe in Tower Hamlets, which it hopes will be run by refugees in future.

The women currently learning to bake bread on the 10-week course at E5 Bakehouse, with baker Lizzie Parle (R)

The women are employed at E5 Roasthouse, in Poplar, which opened in September, where they are making around 500 flatbreads a week.

A trainee called Elsa is also making flatbreads for Gourmet Goat, a food stall in Borough Market.

She took part in the scheme in 2016 as an Asylum seeker and gained employment at the bakery after making her refugee status.

Jean Kerm, 36, a baker at the Roasthouse, said, "The idea is for the cafe to be run by refugees."

The women are trained to make sourdough bread and a range of other skills across the bakery

Just Bread is a 10-week training programme that was launched in 2014. Women are trained in sourdough bread making, in addition to skills across the bakery such as kitchen lunch service, pastry, coffee, butter, jam making and milling.

Women from countries including Iraq, Iran, Ethiopia and Afghanistan are currently in training, and are encouraged to share their own cuisines with one another.

As many participants of the scheme are "vulnerable", E5 hopes the classes offer "some way of connecting people as well as building confidence and skills for employment".

Alongside the project, E5 runs a monthly subscription service where customers pay to receive bread made by the refugees each week.

Previous trainees are now making and selling flatbreads at the cafe and Borough Market each week

Women also take certificates in Health and Safety during the scheme.

The bakery also organise events and projects to allow trainees to have access to employment.

The participants are split half and half between refugees and Asylum seekers. Mr Kerm said it is therefore "important that they have at least one day a week where they are doing some work".

For the last two years, the trainees produced bread for the immersive cinema experience Secret Cinema.

E5 Roasthouse opened in September 2017, and now employs trainees from the Just Bread project

Trainees made and sold chouquettes - similar to profiteroles - at Secret Cinema's live Moulin Rouge event earlier this year.

Commenting on the project, Mr Kerm said: "You can really see the difference between when they first come and when they start to relax.

"Some weeks it's a bit harder than others. They are always really positive but we are really aware that some of them are in very hard positions."

And the project does not only work one way - the Roasthouse is also learning from the trainees and has adapted its menu with Middle Eastern recipes in collaboration with the women.

"We are really learning from them," Mr Kerm said. "The refugees show us how they used to make bread in their countries."

"They have their own techniques that we can use in the cafe."

Andrew Lawton, Integration Manager at the Refugee Council, said: “The refugee women we support through Just Bread have experienced unimaginable trauma and loss and it’s vital they feel safe and supported.

"Not only are these women able to learn new skills and ultimately gain employment, they also build up fantastic friendships with people who have been through the same thing.

"The project has gone from strength to strength and a huge part of that is the wonderful partnership between E5 Bakehouse and the Refugee Council.

"Our vision for the project is that one day Just Bread is run entirely by refugee women themselves.”

Originally conceived by campaigner Liz Siena, Just Bread is supported by Andrew Lawton at Refugee Council.

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