Twalewipika Umukate!!

       Ok, so since rainy season is upon us here, or getting REALLY close, the enthusiasm for digging ponds is slowing down because everyone needs to start planting for next season.  So Ive been occupying my time with other projects, such as GLOW, Girls Leading Our World, which is a youth girl power after school program (which Ill post about in December) and my newly formed women's groups.  

      Bread is a hard item to find outside of the bomas (or major town areas) so when the news spread that I can make bread in the village there was a lot of interest among the women and older girls to start learning how to bake.  So obviously to bake on a village level my little cast iron isnt going to work so we went about making adobe style wood/charcoal burning ovens.  For those reading this who may not know my background, I have absolutely no idea how to make such an item.  My mom remembers stories from the one pottery course Ive taken, about 10 years ago, about all my clay flying off the wheel and the pots exploding in the kiln.  But I figured, Hey! How hard can it be? Thus begins my adventure.  

      Lets just start and say that the dimensions for your oven have to be VERY specific, or else the heat wont circulate well.  A poorly constructed oven will burn too hot, maybe too cold, fall apart, or just turn all your bread black.  All of the above scenarios would really boost these women's confidence in me.  The dome height:dome width ration is 1:1.4 and the door height:door width ration is 1:1.2 with the height being 63% of the dome height.  I decided on a 78 cm internal base with 15 cm thick walls (108 cm total), with a dome of 56 cm tall.  This would make my door 35 cm tall x 42 cm wide. It should also be noted math is not exactly my best subject and I have failed to bring my TI-80 calculator to Zambia.  Silly me. 

     First, you need to need to make a foundation that not only insulates but also raises the door of the oven off the ground level. So we started by laying a brick parameter, filling it with densely packed sand, then adding another complete brick layer on top, and finally sealing it with a layer of clay.  

    Once youve got the base all set you start piling on A LOT of soft sand on top to the width and height of your dome.  You have to be sure to leave the wall space around your sand pile, in my case 15 cm. 

     Next, cover your soft sand form with either plastic or a waxy like coating.  For us, we used mealie meal sacks. The sacks allow the sand to stay separate from the clay layers and not stick together. Then start piling on a loamy clay mixture on top of the sand form.  This layer should take up the allotted wall space youve left and be as equally thick up towards the top of the dome.  When your done your base should be completely covered and have no rim or space left.  Make sure to pack the clay tight too. 

    Packing on the clay (which we got from huge termite mounds) and making the door. 

The finished product should look something like what weve got below.  You need to let the oven sit for about a week so the clay hardens up before you fire it. 

      In the above picture youll notice that the sand form and mealie meal sacks are still there.  Once the clay hardens you dig the sand out of the door. They waxy or plastic covering between sand and clay serves two purposes: 1) It indicates where to stop digging that way you dont start digging into your clay layer and 2) keeps sand and clay separate making the removal of sand relatively easy.  The plastic layer just peels out easily once all the sand is removed.   The end result is a solid and hollow clay dome which you then fire to keep it tempered, shown below. 

     Once the ovens were finished we had to put them to test. Which means we made bread (which is what this post title translates into).   This was the one of most nerve wracking thing Ive had to do in PC Zambia so far.  Bread I can make, and Im quiet good at it, but will these ovens work?!  Well, when these situations arise in Peace Corps you NEVER admit that you havent a clue on what youre doing, or that youve never done said activity before, instead you play it off like you know exactly whats going on, that this is exactly how its done in America, and yes, duh, Im a competent individual.  If things do go awry, and they DO, obviously it wasnt my bad math, lack of ability, or foresight.  The clay was wrong.  Not the best charcoal. Or, the best scenario, "So this is what a BAD oven will look like.  Its important to know what you should NOT being doing.  Now lets make a good one"

Kneading the bread.

TA-DA! THEY WORKED! I didnt have to use any of the evasive techniques listed above because miraculously I DID do my math right, we DID use the correct dirt, and for whatever reason everything else fell into place.  In one day we ended up making 50 palm sized buns, 2 batches of banana bread, and snickerdoodle cookies. 

Theres a smile behind all that bread on her face.  As of right now were working on the profit margins we can make by selling bread in the villages or some of the smaller market areas around.  Hooray of income generating activities that also raise nutrition! Ill be sure to keep you updated on the success of the womens groups. 

And finally, here are some pictures of Mojo.  Hes getting so big!