Afghan men make a name in the UAE as expert bakers

From the fields of Afghanistan, they have come to the UAE to bake the bread that sustains their lives. For years, these Afghan bakers have kept their perch on the hot ovens, taking bread in and out like clockwork.

Not all of the bakers are from Afghanistan, though most are. In fact, an estimated 80 per cent came from the market town of Ghazni, a stopping point on the Kabul-Kandahar trade route.

Community networking

Though Ghazni's population is smaller than several other cities in Afghanistan, the number of bakers hailing from the region is due to little more than community networking. Similar networks are at work in Kabul and Paktia, where many of the Afghan mechanics were raised.

When bakers take extended trips to Afghanistan to see their families, they tend to relate their turn of luck to friends and neighbours.

Living in a war-stricken area with little scope for jobs, it does not take much for others to seek the same change of pace - and pay cheque.

Though a bakery job is difficult and the salary is relatively modest, it provides workers with a kind of security that Afghanistan can hardly offer.

Many a time, the bakeries help the workers strike up an acquaintance despite most of them hailing from the same town back home. What's more, there are also workers who learn all about baking after coming to the UAE.

At least one bakery is an exception to that rule. It employs two young cousins from Ghazni who both worked at a bakery back home. One of them, Nasi Bullah (25) is now in Abu Dhabi working in the same bakery where his father worked for 10 years.

Racked by conflict

Bullah's cousin Khuda Mohammad (19) joined him there two years ago. When they have customers, their smiles defy what men nearby say about their job - "no one wants to do it."

For generation after generation, Ghazni residents have inherited hardship. Like much of Afghanistan, Ghazni has been racked by conflict for decades: It was a strategic military target in the Russian-Afghan war of 1979-89 and, even today, is buffeted by political turmoil.

"If there is security, I will go back," says Khuda Mohammad. For now, the bakery is his future.

The summer heat does not change the bakers' routine. One bakery, which employs three bakers, goes through an 18.9-litre tank of water every day. They work anywhere from 11 to 16-hour days, so the heat is especially exhausting.

At the same time, with prices of flour having nearly doubled, they have been forced to raise their prices.

All kinds of customers

Regular patrons of these bakeries will vouch there are few other places where a large fresh-baked flatbread can be bought for one dirham.

And customers do not fit a single profile; at meal times, there may be labourers, housewives and businessmen lining up for the bread. One Emirati woman said she buys bread for her family from the same Afghan bakery two or three times every day.

"We can't live without it," she said. But it is difficult to say who depends on the bread more, the customers or the bakers themselves.

Marie Magleby is a journalist based in Abu Dhabi.