Baking Bread for Refugees
Khalsa Aid is delighted to report that we have now established a bakery in the Pesh Harbour area, about 35 km from the Kurdish city of Duhok and 10 kms from the Syrian border. Khalsa Aid, with the help of its generous donors, is paying for the machines and 4 staff members, 3 of which have been hired from the refugee camp itself. The estimated cost of the entire project including the machines and a minimum 6 month commitment for the running costs is USD 65,000. The bakery will be fully functional from Sunday the 29th of September and will provide fresh bread to 16000 people daily. We are very pleased that this has been achieved before the onset of winter. Currently the bread, a staple of the Yazidi diet, has to be baked and delivered from the cities, resulting in delays. The practical and psychological effect of a bakery that provides fresh warm bread in the winter cannot be underestimated. Khalsa Aid is grateful to the Swedish Specialist Hospital that have joined us in this venture and taken on the responsibility of managing the bakery. We hope to set up another one in a neighbouring camp before the winter comes in. We appeal to all the Sikhs all over the world, including other Sikh organizations and the Gurdwaras, to assist us in this project. 500 years after Guru Nanak spread his message of humanity and “Sarbat da Bhala” in the same region, we have an opportunity to confirm how his teachings make a positive change in the world.