Polygamy is quite common in Egypt. And usually movie makers display the second wife with tears and sadness, yet this doesn’t have to be true. Reda, 40 years old, managed to be the second wife who supports her husband, cooperates with the first wife, and loves all sons. Everybody in this big family comes together to insure that the bakery shop works perfectly every day. So the husband kneads the flour and bakes the bread and his wives and children help regularly.
Reda dropped out of school when she finished 3rd prep, she always wished to marry her loved one. But his mother preferred he marries another girl who has been raised in the same neighborhood. The man couldn’t refuse his mother’s desire and married another woman than Reda. Her married beloved couldn’t resist his first love and married Reda as a second wife, after one year of his first marriage.
Reda has 3 sons. The eldest is Sameh who is in 1st year in secondary school, and the youngest is Shahd, 5 years old. The first wife also has 3 sons. The eldest is Ahmed who studies engineering, and the youngest is in 3rd prep. The husband’s family works in bakery, and he started a separate project 9 years ago. Accordingly, the 2 wives and children work in this project, except for 2 sons each owns a “Tuk Tuk”
The family business begins every morning at 7, and continues for 4 hours in kneading the flour and baking, they later sell it to neighbors and street vendors. Three sacks of flour are the amount being produced during the morning period. Then in the afternoon they produce bread of other sizes to meet the needs of kebab and fast food restaurants. Work continues until they sell the entire produced quantity.
Recently, Reda joined Al Tadamun Microfinance Foundation in 2015. She managed to increase the amount of flour they buy for production increase, and start licensing the bakery in order to be provided with the government’s monthly share of flour. Reda dreams to establish another bakery branch that has a bigger space and hire labor, and be located in a main street.
