Dried fish businesswoman, baker, community leader, emergent proximate leader, Theresa is our featured incredible Everyday Changemaker. This year she joined with seven other women to start a bakery they will call “Bread for All”. One of the members owns a piece of land she is donating for the bakery. They have pooled their savings and have already started the construction of their bakery. They are seeking additional outside donors as well.
Within their small city, Buchanan Liberia, they do not have a bakery owned by a Liberian, so they want to be the first. This bakery is much needed, and she explained that when the Ghanaian owned bakery’s bread machine is broken, residents must drive 2 ½ hours to purchase bread from the capital city of Monrovia.
Amongst her many talents besides baking bread, she aspires to “teach other younger women how to bake bread and dry fish”.
Initially, Theresa started with a small fish stall that also sold some of her baked goods. Part of CII Liberia, she got a $100 investment which allowed her to increase her sales by 400%. Knowing she would now be able to feed her children, that sense of personal independence led Theresa to take a leadership role in developing the bakery. She is paying CII’s investment forward by helping others.
Globally, Theresa is just one example of an Everyday Changemaker. Change does not have to be run by a nonprofit. There are billions globally who when embedded in a supportive peer environment, prosper, grow, and thus have a broader positive impact in their community. Theresa is beyond doubt, one of our Everyday Changemakers. Read about the Community Independence Initiative global demonstrations, part of a new emerging field of social change called “peer driven change”.
