My supervisor with Peace Corps approached me about a month ago to write an article for the Peace Corps Newsletter about the bread oven that I have constructed. Below is a preliminary piece, which I will edit and repost as it evolves. I haven't decided if the scope is too wide or if it is appropriate for the newsletter, but I thought that I would post it here. You can read it and give me feedback.
Thomas Mosier
Newsletter Article – Bread Oven
22 June 09 - v. 4
Not long after I arrived at site I began asking the teachers at my school questions such as, “if I light a fire inside of a cavern made from this gravel and that cement, do you think it will explode?” Eventually this evolved into, “do the hardware stores in town sell clay bricks?” It wasn't much later that I had drawn up a design for the cavern and gotten one of the teachers at my school to help me source bricks from Nairobi. I had only been at site for a couple weeks and already we were beginning to build a bread oven.
The idea of building a bread oven arose from a friend in college who had built a portable pizza oven. On weekends he would wheel it around campus and invite students to join him to make pizza from scratch. I think that for him, he was teaching those American students about the processes that go into food production, from plant to pizza. It seemed to me that Kenyans already know where their food comes from and that this type of instruction would not be needed. What seemed more applicable to my situation was that he was also socializing and sharing his interests with others. In addition, as a physics teacher my oven would be a tool for teaching the students about heat transfer and thermal expansion.
In physics I have been able to use it as an example during lessons on thermal physics. We have also used the design process as a template for a competition that I held in class where I formed groups and asked the groups to design tools or components of a house that would make use of our knowledge of thermal physics. Many of the groups responded to the assignment by giving me detailed descriptions of how they would design their dream house, with an emphasis on the aspects that pertain to the physics we are learning. A few groups even came up with original methods for heating water, including placing a network of pipes inside of the schools concrete jiko or designing a roof so that the mabauti focus the light on a container of water.
The students who have had these ideas have seen that I have been able to build an oven and have begun to ask me if we can try building their ideas to see how they work and possibly submit them for the science congress. They have even told me that they want to build their own ovens now, at which point I get even more excited and tell them that I would like to build more test ovens to see how changing the shape and building materials affects the usability of the oven.
In this way, the oven has helped me bond with not only the students who helped build it, but also with students who see me baking foreign foods such as pizza or sourdough bread. The teachers have also been watching to understand how it works and following a recent parents' day I invited them all to a pizza party outside of my house. At the party they talked, ate, and asked questions. Even the more conservative male teachers said that they wanted to learn how to bake, which made all of the women smile and laugh with a mixture of approval and skepticism.
A frequent question is whether or not the oven can be used to make money, and I honestly do not know. I have heard that there is an orphanage group baking fried bread balls nearby, and if they can make a profit on those it seems feasible that we could make a profit also. One prohibitive aspect was the cost of the bricks. If my students try building ovens with local materials and are successful, their is a greater likelihood that similar ovens can be profitable. Regardless of the answer, as a teacher and someone who wants to share my interests and my culture with my community, the bread oven was a good investment.
10 June 2009 - v. 3
Not long after I arrived at site I began asking the teachers at my school questions such as, “if I light a fire inside of a cavern made from this gravel and that cement, do you think it will explode?” Eventually this evolved into, “do the hardware stores in town sell clay bricks?” It wasn't much later that I had drawn up a design for the cavern and gotten one of the teachers at my school to help me source bricks from Nairobi. I had only been at site for a couple weeks and already we were beginning to build a bread oven.
The idea of building a bread oven arose from a friend in college who had built a portable pizza oven. On weekends he would wheel it around campus and invite students to join him to make pizza from scratch. I think that for him, he was teaching those American students about the processes that go into food production, from plant to pizza. It seemed to me that Kenyans already know where their food comes from and that this type of instruction would not be needed. What seemed more applicable to my situation was that he was also socializing and sharing his interests with others. In addition, as a physics teacher I could justify the oven as a demonstration in thermal physics and a practical experience in thinking about the thought process of turning a concept into a reality.
A while after the oven was completed, a Kenyan friend complained to me that the children these days are growing up without knowing calabashes or cooking pots, the traditional tools for cooking and eating. The friend from college and his oven came back to me, and I realized that our situations have similarities. Both groups are evolving, and in the process appear to be losing knowledge of the past. My oven, I realized, could be a vehicle for showing that luxury can be synthesized from within one's own region. In addition to pizza and bread, for instance, our communities in Kenya can create mozzarella cheese from a cow's stomach and milk. They can also grow spices such as oregano, dill, lemon grass, sage, and rosemary, right here and use them to make dill pickles or “very sweet” soups.
If they become excited about my synthesis of tradition and locally available resources and I begin to ask them about their traditions, maybe they will begin to willingly ask their parents. Maybe a few will learn more about calabashes and cooking pots. Even if they do not catch this enthusiasm, it still makes me smile when people ask me for my bread recipe in addition to a watch from America.
No comments:
Post a Comment