Brödet och Fiskarna

The solidarity organization Brödet och Fiskarna (Bread and Fishes) was founded in Västerås in 1972 as a Christian group working mainly with social work, inspired by the French Emmaus movement. The activities were mainly to collect clothes and other items and sell some of them at flee-markets to sustain the activities of the group. From 1979 the group no longer considered itself Christian. The number of employees has varied between 15 and 25. In the 1970's they were only given an allowance, later a small salary was paid. International solidarity soon became the focus of the group, and, from 1974, support for SWAPO started with the first shipment of clothes. In 1975 support for African National Congress (ANC) and ZANU started. Besides clothes and shoes, all kinds of equipment requested for the refugee settlements was shipped, including bicycles, sewing machines, fabric, pots and pans, tents, and blankets. In cooperation with the health groups within the Africa Groups of Sweden (Afrikagrupperna) considerable amounts of medical supplies and equipment were packed and shipped, along with substantial monetary contributions. From 1979 to 1989 Bread and Fishes together with the Africa Groups of Sweden ran a major medical project for SWAPO in Kwaza Sul Angola. In the 1980s various support programs also were started with Polisario, Angola, Mozambique, Eritrea, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Bread and Fishes cooperates with some of the Emmaus groups in Sweden in the organization Practical Solidarity. Exiled students and other members of the liberation movements regularly visited and worked for various periods with the organization. Västerås has remained the headquarters; in the 1980's, several branches started in the surrounding towns.