Baking her way to independence

When Amanaki came to Monte Cecilia’s Mangere transitional community, her family was struggling with money, but thanks to Monte Cecilia’s F.A.I.T.H. Money Programme she’s discovered a way to harness her talents to support her family.

“When we mix with the people in the FA.I.T.H. programme it’s good to be able to talk because sometimes I felt like I was the only one struggling with finances, but when I found out that lots of families do, it helped me realise that there’re other options,” Amanaki says.

“Recently my husband has been the only one working. My family doesn’t have much but the money programme made me wake up that I could help my family and my husband.”

Amanaki always had a talent of knowing how to bake, baking for family and friends’ birthdays and celebrations. However, recently she made a tray of jam pies for her church and posted it on Facebook. Soon she had friends asking her how much to buy one and while at first she wasn’t interested, with her new confidence she decided to give it a try.

Amanaki and her husband set aside a day and put up a Facebook post offering the jam pies for $20 a tray. In that day alone she made $350 and over the course of the week she made a full $1000.

“I felt so blessed and grateful, I got to see how my people loved my baking. People she knew were very encouraging, with people from her church making and giving her jam to put in the pies.”

Amanaki has always wanted to own her own cake shop, so she is starting a stall at the local market. She has a history as a chef, and is currently looking into the legal processes required to start her own business.