cookie making in kigali

who knew?

the story dates back to my flight to kigali. while I was in the airport in addis ababa, ethiopia, I met clare, a nigerian woman who was raised in the u.k. and u.s. she left her position as a diplomat shortly after going to rwanda for the first time. she was so troubled by the circumstances that many street children endured, living in and eating out of garbage dumps. these children were orphaned as a result of the genocide and many had nowhere to go. over the last seven years, clare has established an organization, esther's aid, geared towards helping these children. her organization has built a small school in a kigali slum. here, children are educated at the primary level (i.e. elementary school). additionally, she has set up programs for skill training, including car mechanics, sewing/tailoring, and catering.

I had yet to visit clare's home or the school since coming to kigali, though she has telephoned several times to check in on me. after ringing saturday morning, I went to kacyiru, clare's neighborhood. mind you, this is the same area where several of the ministries, the president's office, and the new american embassy (which is still under construction; once it is completed, it will be the tallest building in the area) are located. not surprisingly, this is a nice area of kigali, with palm trees in the median of the road. (these trees were imported from south africa. the best use of the government's money? that's questionable.) behind this facade of clean, well-constructed buildings and roads is the slum in which clare lives and in which her school is located.

after a hour at her home, we went to the school to show the students in the catering program how to bake cookies. the result of this training will be the production of cookies, to be sold (most likely to ex-pats) in support of the organization. clare's organization has managed to get some nice equipment into the school. it was a really interesting experience to help mix cookie batter and bake cookies in a poor area of kigali. baking cookies seems, in many ways, to be second nature, as learning to do so was such a part of my growing up with my grandmother. to see these students learn to measure baking soda and form cookie balls was great. knowing that these will be skills that will help get them positions in hotels or as private cooks for richer families was inspiring. and I got to be a very small part of it.