Skills Training with our community

AIC stands for Africa Inland Church

In February Eli started up a new program in our church to provide some skills training for members of our church but also neighbors and others in our community. I was hesitant at first because it meant adding one more thing to our already very full lives but it has proven to be a really amazing and timely ministry. It is rumored that after many many years the UN is going to stop giving food and money rations to the refugees in Northern Uganda by next month. This will be a very heavy blow for our community because many of them don't have land to farm or any substantial way of making income to support and feed their families.

The first skill taught was soap making. You can see one of the specimens above. They also learned how to make liquid soap, detergent for washing clothes and bath soap. It's quite the process so the training took all of February, meeting every Wednesday but those who attended were thrilled to find that all the materials needed to make soap can be found in our town and it is a much needed commodity.

Making mandazi doughnuts

On March 1 we did a class teaching how to make mandazi which is a local doughnut that many buy for breakfast. The daughter of one of our church members went to catering school and came to teach the group. The students were divided into groups and they each made their own batch. Eli also taught some basic finance and budgeting in order to help them know how to spend the profit they make (how much to save, how much to use for ingredients for the next batch, money they can pocket, etc.)

Several groups from the mandazi class have continued to make mandazi every other day and are excited about the profit they're making. Another woman in the class makes Sudanese bread and sells it by request.

After several weeks of being asked if I'd teach Cake Baking, I taught a two week course. First week cake baking and 2nd week, cake decorating. I really didn't think it would be a good money maker. There are only a few people/businesses in Adjumani who bake cake and a single cake is sold for 50,000 Ugandan shillings which is about $13. Most people can't afford this. 

However, what do you know, I found a recipe that doesn't use butter, eggs, or milk (all more expensive items here) and we discovered we can bake a cake for only 7000 shillings, about $2!

All set up for my demonstration

First I showed them how to measure all the ingredients using cups and spoons that everyone has here. Then I divided them into two groups and they each mixed one on their own.

No one has a propane oven like I do so I taught them how to bake their cakes on charcoal which is what they all use at home to cook. This is a technique I learned and used during our years in Sudan and South Sudan.

Class moved outside where we placed an insulation layer of sand in the bottom of a large metal pan, then our cakes, followed by a metal cover with hot coals on top.

Everyone crowded around as the delicious smells started seeping from the pots. Since we baked 3 good sized cakes I thought they'd be able to take some home for their families but these ladies enjoyed the cake so much, every crumb was gone by the end of class!

The following week I came to class with two already baked cakes and a recipe for frosting. This is the expensive part because margarine, powdered sugar and food coloring are more pricey. Frosting for one cake costs almost $4. But still, the ladies were delighted to discover that the profit for selling a whole cake amounts to 20,000 shillings/$5.50 (This is double the daily wage here!)

The ladies loved the bright colors and put together some gorgeous designs. We used local plastic bags for the icing to pipe different designs and it was so fun to see what they came up with!

When the cakes were complete they cut them so everyone could take a beautifully decorated piece home to give to a neighbor so they can begin advertising what they can make. Baking cake is a business per request here. So if someone has a birthday or wedding, they can order cakes.

Yesterday after church the women had a meeting about an upcoming baby celebration in our community. They plan to bake several cakes to serve at the event, again to advertise their new skill!

I'm so impressed with them.

So if you want to try a delicious slice of cake come visit us in Adjumani!

UPCOMING TRAININGS:

Carpentry

Welding

Beekeeping/Honey