A women-led bakery rebuilding hope in South Lebanon

Every morning at 6:00 a.m., five women gather around a dough mixer, worktables and an oven at Montana Shelter, a former hotel in Marwanieh, southern Lebanon to prepare hundreds of manakeesh for 250 displaced families. All five women are displaced themselves. 

What began as a way to help meet the shelter's food needs has become much more than a bakery. It offers the women a daily routine, a sense of purpose and a space for connection and laughter amid prolonged displacement. It reflects how women, while bearing the disproportionate impacts of the conflict, are at the forefront of supporting one another, and sustaining their families and communities. 

Repeated escalation of hostilities since October 2023 have forced families to flee multiple times, separating them from their homes, livelihoods and land. The escalation that began in March 2026 displaced more than 1.2 million people in under three weeks. Returns have since gathered pace, but over 360,000 individuals remain displaced by the end of July; among them, 26,300 continue to live in 247 collective shelters across Lebanon. More than 53 per cent of them are women and girls.

The Montana Shelter quickly became a lifeline for families displaced by conflict. Opened as a collective shelter in December 2023, it was one of the first shelters established in the area, accommodating families primarily from Odaisseh, Rab Thalathin, Kfar Kila and Taybeh. At the height of the crisis, it hosted around 250 families; today, approximately 650 people remain, including 355 women and girls. 

A woman prepares manakeesh at the women-led bakery serving displaced families at Montana Shelter. Photo: UN Women/Georges Roukoz

A Community Built on Resilience

The bakery was established in February 2026 through the UN Women Project Sumod: Protection, Livelihood and Participation of Women and Girls Affected by Crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory and South Lebanon, implemented in cooperation with the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Unit of the Union of Saida/Zahrani Municipalities and Al Majmoua with the generous support of the Government of Japan. Women staying at the shelter requested commercial baking equipment and raw materials, enabling them to establish and manage a bakery within the shelter. The assistance was timely, as the escalation of hostilities in March 2026 left the shelter with limited access to additional assistance. The bakery allowed the residents of the shelter to continue to meet their basic food needs. 

Five women run the bakery: Wedyan, 45; Hala, 39; Fatima, 45; Fatima, 54; and Zeinab, 56. While Wedyan and Hala fled Odaisseh to Montana Shelter in 2023, the others have endured repeated displacement, loss and uncertain returns through successive waves of conflict.

Wedyan, who worked in a poultry shop in Odaisseh, after fleeing her village in 2023 spent five months in Harouf before arriving at Montana Shelter. “It is not home, but it is the closest thing I can call home,” she says. “During the 2026 war, I lost my house, my sister and niece, and my olive trees”.

Zeinab, a mother of three daughters, also lost 15,000 square metres of land planted with ancient olive trees. “They uprooted and took away our olive trees, and bulldozed the land,” she says. “I do not know whether I would even recognize my land anymore.”

For all five women, the bakery provides a sense of purpose and relief from the grief of lost homes, destroyed livelihoods and uprooted olive groves.

Five women at Montana Shelter baked 400–600 manakeesh daily for displaced families during the 2026 escalation. Photo: UN Women/Georges Roukoz

Laughter, Dignity, and Daily Routine

Against this backdrop of profound loss, the bakery offers an essential psychological outlet. “The bakery broke the monotonous routine we had fallen into,” explains Hala who used to work in a clothing shop and was among the first residents to arrive at Montana Shelter after fleeing Odaisseh in 2023. “My role is not only to help make the manakeesh but also to distract the women and make them laugh”, she says.

Fatima, a mother of four, brings six years of experience of making saj bread in Rab Thalathin and volunteered as soon as she heard about plans to open the bakery. Alongside the physically demanding work come jokes, solidarity and mutual support. “The bakery has given us an outlet and allowed us to let off steam,” Fatima says. “It helps us forget the war for a few hours.”

For Zeinab, the bakery allowed her to gain new skills, moving from informal household cooking into managing a high-volume bakery. “We feel the difference we make when we prepare 500-600 manakeesh,” she notes. “It gives us a sense of satisfaction, a way to feel that we matter again.”

In 2024, her husband's marble workshop was destroyed, they repaired their home and reopened the business elsewhere. But the 2026 escalation forced them to flee again, and the workshop was destroyed for a second time.  “They destroyed everything”, she says. They sent me a photograph of my land a while ago—it is completely bulldozed.”

Fatima Reslan returned to Odaisseh several times, hoping to rebuild. But renewed escalation made that hope increasingly distant. “The entire house is gone,” she says.

Her husband worked as a wall painter, but displacement and the destruction of their home upended their livelihood. She still remembers a missile landing near the Montana Shelter, shattering windows and leaving a lasting reminder of the conflict’s emotional toll.

Looking forward

With support from the Government of Japan, UN Women and Al Majmoua equipped the women-led bakery at Montana Shelter. Photo: UN Women/Georges Roukoz

While the bakery cannot replace what was lost, it gives these five women a space to lead, support their community, and hold on to the hope of returning home.

"We are ready to pitch a tent as soon as our land is free," Fatima Barakat and Zeinab say. "There is nothing more precious than the land. From the remaining soil, we will build our homes; from the remaining roots, we will grow back our trees."

For now, the work continues one morning at a time- mixing dough, heating ovens and rebuilding community from the ground up. 

“I know that many people are hesitant to return,” Zeinab says. “But I also know that once I return, once Fatima returns and once Wedyan returns, we become a village again.”

1. Manakeesh/Man’oushe is a popular Lebanese breakfast pastry, consisting of dough topped with za'atar, cheese, or ground meat.
2.  Lebanon: Flash Update #48 - Escalation of hostilities in Lebanon (as of 3 August 2026)