Hello Friends!
Does your church, club or group need a speaker? How about an edible
(media) artist who has travelled almost 8,000 miles to get to the USA
as a speaker?
After completing my Masters in 1995, I volunteered for a month in
Uganda as a VOCA (Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance)
volunteer assigned to Batchelor's Bakery in Kampala. In that
assignment, I met a young man named Rudolf Abbas who was a lead baker
in the bakery. As a result of that assignment, we were able to
reformulate the bread using more local ingredients, fewer imported
ingredients, lower costs, improve sensory qualities and start the
bakery on a growth path. For the first 6 months, the bakery doubled
bread and roll sales each month! Rudolf was an instrumental part of
seeing that the bakery was equipped and staffed to keep up with such
growth. Several weeks ago, Rudolf contacted me to let me know he is
interested in establishing a professional Baking school in Uganda. I
pledged to him that I will assist in raising awareness of this
project and finding sources of assistance for him in the USA.
Then Rudolf emailed me that he had been selected to attend a
shortcourse at NDSU. The shortcourse is sponsored by the American
Soybean Association (ASA) and USDA to promote usage of soy products.
Rudolf and several other bakers from Africa attended a Shortcourse at
North Dakota State to promote use of soy products in bakeries. As a
result, Rudolf is now in the United States for a few days.
After the shortcourse, Rudolf will be available to talk to groups
from August 16th to 29th. During this time I will also be arranging
tours for Rudolf to visit farms, milling operations and bakeries in
the midwest. If you are interested in meeting Isaac or Rudolf, or
need a speaker, call me at the number below.
Accompanying Rudolf is Isaac Ssebakijje, marketing manager for a
bakery supply company in Kampala. Isaac is interested in food and
bakery products to import to Uganda. If anyone has contacts who sell
flours or other bakery ingredients, Isaac will be happy to talk to
you. After the 19th, Isaac will be in the Dallas, TX area for a few
days. He is currently in St. Louis at the ASA HQ.
Please consider supporting Rudolf in his effort to establish a baking
school for commercial bakers in East Africa. The American Institute
of Baking is interested in assisting, as we will be meeting with AIB
while Rudolf is in the USA to plan how their international expertise
and educational materials can help to make the baking school a
reality. I am proud to support Rudolf in this endeavor. In the USA,
we can use help to establish a 501 C(3) organization or perhaps come
under the wing of an existing organization. If you know of other
organizations who assist groups in East Africa, or Uganda in
particular, we'd like to talk with you to learn from your group's
experiences.
Send a check made out to "Donation for Rudolf Abbas" to the following address:
"Donation for Rudolf Abbas"
Great Western Bank
316 South Duff
Ames
IA 50010
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
