When I accepted a volunteer position as a social worker at a domestic violence shelter in a developing nation, I imagined the position for which my university experience had prepared me. I envisioned conducting intake interviews and traipsing around from organization to organization seeking the legal, psychological, and financial support that the women would need to rebuild their lives. When I arrived, I felt as if I already had months of experience, experience garnered in the hypothetical situations I had invented and subsequently resolved single-handedly and seamlessly. I felt thoroughly prepared to tackle head-on the situation I assumed was waiting for me. I arrived full of zeal, knocking at the shelter"s door. Within moments, my reality made a sharp break from that which I had anticipated. The coordinator explained that the shelter"s need for financial self-sufficiency had become obvious and acute. To address this, the center was planning to open a bakery. I immediately enthused about the project, making many references to the small enterprise case studies I had researched at the university. In response to my impassioned reply, the coordinator declared me in charge of the bakery and left in order to " get out of my way. " At that moment, I was as prepared to bake bread as I was to run for political office. The bigger problem, however, was that I was completely unfamiliar with the for-profit business models necessary to run the bakery. I was out of my depth in a foreign river with only my coordinator"s confidence to keep me afloat. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. I soon found that it is also the mother of initiative. I began finding recipes and appropriating the expertise of friends. With their help making bread, balancing books, printing pamphlets and making contacts, the bakery was soon running smoothly and successfully. After a short time it became a significant source of income for the house. In addition to funds, baking bread provided a natural environment in which to work with and get to know the women of the shelter. Kneading dough side by side, I shared in the camaraderie of the kitchen, treated to stories about their children and the towns and jobs they had had to leave behind to ensure their safety. Baking helped me develop strong relationships with the women and advanced my understanding of their situations. It also improved the women"s self-esteem. Their ability to master a new skill gave them confidence in themselves, and the fact that the bakery contributed to the upkeep of the house gave the women, many of them newly single, a sense of pride and the conviction that they had the capability to support themselves. Baking gave me the opportunity to work in a capacity I had not at all anticipated, but one that proved very successful. I became a more sensitive and skillful social worker, capable of making a mean seven-grain loaf. Learning to bake gave me as much newfound self-confidence as it gave the women, and I found that sometimes quality social work can be as simple as kneading dough. The comparison in Lines 6 -7 of Para. 2("At that moment...political office")demonstrates the author"s belief that______.