Home Economics

So right now a lot of my time is filled with all of these young girls in my house. They need money for school fees and I need them to have SOMETHING to do. So out of these needs we have developed some projects. Abella has seen me cook banana bread several times and a week or so ago she asked to make some herself. Somehow the idea was suggested that she could sell it. Well, eventually the two of us sat down and I helped her figure out what she needed to get started. For flour, sugar, banana and eggs she needed 4,600 shillings. So I loaned her the money and then taught her to use an oven, a mixer, a timer (she still doesn't get this part), measuring cups and spatula. With only a little help she made 12 muffins and 2 mini loaves. Then she and her friends took them out and sold them. I was pretty impressed- they sold all of them in about an hour. They proudly showed me their earnings- 3,600 shillings. Oops. So back to the black board. How much did we spend?  Do you understand what it means to be in the red?  So, I think she (and now several of her friends too) have got it. We head back to town for more flour and sugar with the money she made and I loaned them a few more shillings to get eggs and bananas.  Yesterday afternoon they made a double recipe and by dark they had sold them all. They still needed a lot of assistance in the kitchen. Abella gets the general idea but now she has all of these willing helpers who are possibly TOO helpful. So with another quick talk about measuring and following the recipe fairly closely I'm pretty sure they get it. (But still are completely unable to figure out why the timer is necessary.) So this morning when they came back we took a look at their profit and... only 7,300. “But Jennifer” they say “you told us we had to make 4,600 shillings to be able to do it again. And look we made seven thousand!” “But you made a double batch! You needed to make 9,200!” Blank looks. So.... shortly we are headed back into town for more flour and bananas. Stay tuned for the ongoing saga...

They were so proud of their work!

*Some slight explanation- these girls have only ever cooked over a fire, never in an oven. My oven only has two setting- on and off so the longer it is on the hotter it gets. But they don't really understand this, a fire only gets cooler the longer it burns if you don't add fuel. They have never used a recipe because nothing these guys eat requires close measuring. Their homes don't have electricity so they don't have clocks and no one owns a watch and time is based on the sun so timing something is a pretty foreign concept. When they put beans on the fire they are fine for hours and when it is time to eat you take them off. As for rice, it is finished when you stir it and it is soft. Well, banana bread doesn't really work like that.It is amazing that we really haven't burned any yet- well, burned any too badly to sell or eat anyway.