This Saturday 20 July, our bakers are teaming up Oxfam Midlands to bake a one one-off Syrian yoghurt flatbread to help raise awareness of Oxfam’s Syria Crisis Appeal. The bread will be sold in the Loaf Community Bakery, 1421 Pershore Road, Stirchley, Birmingham, B30 2JL from 8.15am to 2pm. Look out for it on our specials table in the shop window.
Every day at Loaf we bake a different speciality bread, often inspired by cultures and flavours from around the world. As a former Media Campaigner for Oxfam Midlands and having had friends who lived and worked in Syria, this is close to our hearts. Baking bread in solidarity with the Syrian people, is one way that we can do our bit to help. What is happening in Syria is a tragedy so we want to do whatever we can to make a difference. We would encourage our customers to join us and come and buy the bread and/or make a donation to Oxfam’s Syria Crisis appeal.
See our article in the Birmingham Mail on Thursday 25 July, pg 17 – “Bakers use loaf to boost charity”.
Oxfam is working with refugees from Syria in Lebanon and Jordan to provide access to housing water and sanitation but the charity needs to raise more funds as soon as possible to reach thousands more refugees who need emergency help. The situation is getting more desperate as the UN’s latest figures show that the number of people killed in Syria has reached a staggering 100,000. Eight million Syrians are in desperate need of aid and almost 1.8 million forced to flee to neighbouring countries.
As well as at Loaf, a series of events and fundraising activities in the West Midlands have been taking place to raise awareness and money for Oxfam’s Syria Crisis Appeal. Oxfam in the Midlands are asking local people in Birmingham and the Black Country to get in touch to find out how they can get involved to raise awareness, campaign and/or fundraise.
Katy Cook, Community Campaigns Coordinator for Oxfam Midlands said: “Many people in Birmingham and Wolverhampton will have heard about the conflict in Syria in the news but not many people will know what it is like to live there.Through the baking of speciality Syrian bread at Loaf in Birmingham and sharing personal stories of refugees in Wolverhampton we want to bring the experiences of ordinary Syrian people closer to home to people in the West Midlands. The refugees we are working with are ordinary people like us who are bystanders to the conflict but the fighting, bloodshed and violence has forced many families to leave behind everything they know. There are many heartbreaking stories of people who have watched their children die or lost family members but even amidst the despair there are some amazing and inspirational stories.”
For more information please go to www.oxfam.org.uk/syria or call the Oxfam Midlands office on 0121 634 3611
Jane Baker