At Casa de Amor, breakfast and dinner typically include some form of fresh bread. For breakfast, children normally eat a piece of bread accompanied by a warm drink. Bolivia is famous for its warm, purple drink called Api, but there are many other drinks that the kids also love!
Although bread is relatively inexpensive in Bolivia (14 pieces of bread/ $1) the staff takes time each week to make fresh bread from scratch. This is a great way to save money, but also an opportunity to teach the kids (and volunteers!) new life skills.
Although the kids don't exactly speed up the process, they enjoy helping the tias with the dough, letting it rise in the sun, making balls of dough, and then cooking the bread in the industrial sized oven! (Don't worry, the kids don't get too close to the oven!)
Making the bread also helps the kids to appreciate the food they are eating. Often when food appears on the table the kids struggle to be grateful because they do not have a good concept of the work that has been put into providing and cooking the meal. When the kids eat bread, they are proud to offer bread to visitors, and are more appreciative!
