Bread is a daily staple in the Bolivian diet and is often eaten for breakfast or as a snack. María Antonieta of the Girls Youth House knows this cultural practice better than anyone, as her delicious cheese bread has become a profitable treat around the Villa. María Antonieta recently graduated from a two-year entrepreneurship course in baking through Aldeas SOS, a worldwide organization with a location in the Villa neighborhood. She first joined the program to learn something new, as she had little prior baking experience. Looking back on why she picked bakery as her entrepreneurial specialty, María Antonieta says, “I don’t know. It just makes me feel good.”
María Antonieta has attended classes and training six days a week during her two years of study and learned a wide variety of baking skills. She makes chocolate, orange, and lemon cakes, as well as vanilla, nutmeg, chocolate, and oatmeal cookies. However, her specialty is “el pan de la tarde” (“afternoon bread”). From Monday to Friday, María Antonieta comes to the Villa to bake fresh bread for an afternoon snack to sell to the Villa staff. In one hour, María Antonieta prepares 100 cheese breads and sells each one at the standard market price of 50 centavos (seven cents U.S.). Each day, she sells out. With limited overhead costs, María Antonieta turns a consistent profit that is used both as spending money and savings for future investment.
María Antonieta joins 18 university and technical school students as budding independent leaders. By learning a trade or obtaining a professional degree, it is possible for these young adults to pursue bigger goals. Jobs are competitive in Bolivia, and Amistad Mission’s university/independent living coordinator has been instrumental in finding internships and networking with local companies. These students put in an amazing amount of hard work to succeed. Between classes, studying and part-time jobs, some endure fourteen to sixteen-hour workdays. It is the commitment necessary to keep pace in competitive classes, in which a percentage of students is guaranteed to fail. Understanding the demanding and restrictive structure of Bolivian higher education makes the accomplishments of these students even more impressive.
As for María Antonieta’s future plans, she would like to open her own bakery and sell an array of fresh pastries, cakes, and bread. Now, however, she is happy to come to the Villa each day and receive the warm smiles from satisfied customers, who eagerly await “el pan de la tarde.”
