BRICKS TO BREAD COSTA RICA PROJECTS
JEANNETH RUGAMA SEVILLA – EL CARMEN DE CUTRIS

THE COMMUNITY

Located in San Carlos de Alajuela, Carmen de Cutris is a farming community of 13 houses, a grocery store, one school, a chapel, and a plaza. The nearest town, Coopevega, is 50 minutes away where there are supermarkets, a gas station, and other services. The women of Carmen de Cutris raise pigs and chickens and sell milk and cheese from their livestock as well as homegrown produce.

THE FAMILY

Jeanneth and her husband, Julio, have been baking bread since 2021–initially using a firewood-heated stove adapted into an oven. Unable to regulate the heat, many products were lost. After acquiring a small electric oven, they were able to produce 35 bags of artisan rolls, breads, empanadas, cookies, and pastries every 3 days. However, the oven was very small and quite expensive to operate. There is great demand for Jeanneth’s baked goods because she uses fresh, preservative-free ingredients and sets fair prices for customers, many of whom are hungry migrant field workers. Her other successful sales channel is a local grocery store that her brother owns where he sells her bread to support her dream.

LIVES CHANGED

Jeanneth hopes to keep the tradition of artisan baking alive by teaching young people her methods and recipes. With her new brick oven and Bricks to Bread support, she is able to produce larger quantities in a fraction of the time it took her to bake before. She saves money by using fallen trees readily available for firewood and is realizing her dream of using her kitchen and skills to create a bakery microenterprise.