Go bake cake!

“If we can’t improve on real life, we should put down our pencils and go bake bread.” Barbara Kingsolver

Or cake, as is the case at Ibanda Child Development Center (CDC). This quote is sprawled across the walls of the now open and functioning “Kids Café” which all started in November of 2007 with a birthday party….

I had just begun my Peace Corps assignment when I was invited to a birthday party. Ibanda CDC sponsors over 200 orphans and each month, the birthdays are celebrated for those born in the corresponding month. Twelve eager young faces gathered around a small cake, all awaiting their small slice of sweetness. The children simultaneously blew out the candles and the director began cutting the cake. However, the cake wasn’t cutting with a simple butter knife. A machete was brought to the cake and the sawing and hacking began. No one else seemed surprised at the scene, but I couldn’t help but picture this occurring in the backyard of an American child’s birthday party- who would want that cake? Looking for work and a way to help out, I offered to bake the next cake.

I began preparing a cake each month for the birthday celebration. As word spread among the caregivers of the Ibanda CDC orphans, a group approached me to ask for baking lessons. This group is the support group formed of caregivers living with HIV. And so I began giving lessons on cake baking to this group, using local materials, marking plastic cups as measuring cups, mixing in basins and cooking over fires. Soon people in the community were asking for cakes for parties, so the group began providing cakes for church members. I smelled not only a chocolate cake, but a chance for an income generating activity.

As the group began to discuss the idea of a bakery, the local UPHOLD office was closing and chose Ibanda CDC to receive a refrigerator and electric oven. We were ecstatic! Now we had a real chance at operating as a bakery. I wrote a small proposal to Compassion (the umbrella organization of Ibanda CDC) requesting start up funds. The funds were enough for some tables, a bookshelf, a counter, and ingredients for our first five cakes.

Around this time, I took a short visit home. While in the heartland of Omaha, NE, I stopped by a local bakery, Sweet Magnolia’s, operated by some family friends. They were interested in the bakery we were beginning at Ibanda CDC, and offered to put some information up about our efforts, thinking many of their clientele would be interested in assisting.

I returned to Ibanda and began to give the caregivers in the group lessons on using an electric oven. I had also acquired some measuring cups and spoons which the group received eagerly. We translated recipes into local language and posted around the bakery. Every day was spent in the bakery from 9-5, mixing and baking and cleaning, and of course, tasting.

A month after my return, I received a call from home that Sweet Magnolias had raised $750 for our bakery and they were asking to be called our “sister bakery”. When I told the caregivers the good news, some of them began to weep, and there was much clapping, whooping, singing and smiles. This group of caregivers is the board of directors for the funds and any money spent from this pool is approved by the group. They decided the bakery will be run by the caregivers and any profits earned will cycle back into funds for small income generating activities members of the group operate in the community.

As we prepared cakes to celebrate our opening day, we wanted to write “Ibanda CDC” on a cake. One of the women icing, without realizing, repeated incorrectly and said “Ibanda CD4” CD4 is the count of white blood cells and an important marker for a person living with HIV. If the CD4 count is high, it means the drugs are working and the body will be able to fight most illnesses. Should the count fall, it can mean the body has built up resistance to the drugs or that no further treatment is possible, signifying the beginning of AIDS and end of life care. The women, who all have HIV, began laughing, noted their friend’s mistake. They began quoting other HIV related jargon to decorate atop the cakes. After they were done laughing, one woman mentioned that her CD4 is all she ever thinks and worries about every day and revealed that this bakery has given her a chance to think about something else. All the women agreed.

The following day, June 5^th, 2009- we opened Kids Café. The day was full of speeches, good food, and of course, good cakes. We even sold our very first cake! The group of caregivers stood proudly behind their work and was recognized in the community for something other than having HIV- now they are known as the bakers.

By putting down our pencils, and baking cakes, it seems we have improved on real life.