Baking Cakes in Kigali

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
Published by Atlantic Books


Kigali, capital of Rwanda, scene of the horrific genocide of 1994, and cakes, symbols of comfort and celebration; the surprising juxtaposition is oddly reassuring, like an invitation to listen to Grimm's fairy tales from the safety of a parent's lap. Stories of the harsh realities of life in Rwanda are made bearable because we hear them while drinking warm milky tea, flavoured with cardamom, and eating brightly coloured cupcakes in the lounge of Angel Tungaraza.


Angel lives with her husband, Pius, and their five orphaned grandchildren in an apartment block in Kigali, built especially for aid and development workers in the aftermath of the genocide. Some are employed by the UN, some are voluntary aid workers and others, like Pius, have been contracted to run the university and other establishments until local people are able to take responsibility for them. They come from different countries, for different reasons: some to be of service, some to make money. These differences add to the complexity of the new society in Rwanda.

Angel makes special cakes for special occasions.  In order to design the perfect cake for each client, she needs to know and understand the story behind their celebration. Like us, she is an outsider, and she takes on the role of everywoman, asking the questions that we would ask about local customs and traditions and the experience of recent events. Although she is not from Rwanda, she is African and so we benefit from her insight into some of the situations and attitudes that we find difficult to comprehend.

She is a good listener, knowing how to set her guests at ease, when to question or comment and when to simply let their stories unfold. Through her we hear accounts of violence and of reconciliation; corruption and generosity; poverty and enterprise; suffering and endurance. Each of the fourteen chapters is about one story and the magnificent cake that Angel produces to represent the main elements of that story. She does not offer solutions, but she helps her clients to see things more clearly.

I loved this book, it made me laugh and cry and I feel that I now understand some of the complex problems of Africa a little better. It is a beautifully written book with wonderfully drawn characters and the opening sentence is worthy of a place in the list of best first lines:

In the same way that a bucket of water reduces a cooking fire to ashes - a few splutters of shocked disbelief, a hiss of anger, and then a chill all the more penetrating for having so abruptly supplanted intense heat - in just that way, the photograph that she now surveyed extinguished all her excitement.

This would be an excellent choice for a book club. I would love to discuss each chapter in detail but I won't spoil it for you.  I am really grateful to dear friend D for introducing me to it, a Christmas present to treasure. I'm sure you will all be rushing to get a copy to find out what was so shocking in that photograph! Perhaps we can then start our own online discussion.

(Off on family visits for the next week or two, without my laptop!)

Simple arithmetic

A neighbour asked my husband if he would help his 10 year old daughter who was struggling with maths, in particular with subtraction. After a brief lesson, she was able to tackle her homework with confidence but yesterday she came back to ask for more help. Her teacher had refused to give her a mark for the homework because the answers were correct but she had not used his "correct" method to arrive at them.

My husband uses the same method that I was taught in school in the 1950s - equal addition. He asked the little girl to use that method on this question 8157 - 379. It took her 25 seconds to produce the correct answer:

She then attempted the same question using the school's method. She took 7 minutes to arrive at an answer, which turned out to be incorrect.

Here is the recommended method; it goes through a number of stages, each with the potential to mystify and confuse:

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

The little girl could not do the addition in her head so she had to write out the numbers

 The question hanging around chez Random Distractions all weekend is WHY?

 

How does your garden grow?

The new header picture shows the camellia Little Bit, flowering in my garden in January 2009. At that time, there was a glorious display of camellias, hellebores and snowdrops but today I found a great deal of depressing devastation. Winters here are normally very mild and plants that people in other parts of the UK would dig up or protect survive and flourish with no special attention. How I wish I had heeded my country neighbours who told me that the abundance of berries warned of harsh weather to come, instead of believing the predictions from the Met Office.

Most of the snow has gone, leaving the ground saturated and the plants bent and broken and still harbouring some ice crystals.

I walked around, feeling quite overwhelmed by the destruction and wondering if I could face replanting the whole garden, then I saw a few signs of life. The camellias, which would normally be in full bloom by now, still have their buds:

The magnolia buds look rather forlorn but perhaps they will open:

and the lilacs promise to fill the garden with colour and scent, even if nothing else has survived

I hope the Big Freeze is not leaving you with the effects of a Terrible Thaw.

Four and twenty blackbirds

Well, perhaps not quite so many but I certainly counted ten this morning, along with a pied wagtail, several chaffinches, a robin, a song thrush and even a tiny wren. Unfortunately, I never have the camera to hand when I need it.

This chap seems to be the playground bully, he perches on the wall and swoops down to chase off the competition.

 

Here he spots a few remaining berries

 

and polishes them off before

heading down for the choicest bits from my offerings

Winter woollies

The snow has provided the best excuse for sitting on the sofa and knitting. I am having a great time producing little knits for our two granddaughters.

For Millie, a sweater based on a Rowan pattern, teamed with a Sirdar retro bonnet:

and for Charlotte, a lacy lavender cardigan

and a ballet wrap in Sirdar Sublime.  I know 5 months is rather young for ballet but l couldn't resist it.

The day the map turned white

This picture  (courtesy of NASA) shows Great Britain from space today - almost completely covered in snow. I know that those people who are used to snowy winters must think we are very wimpish, with the whole country brought to a standstill by a few days of bad weather. The problem is that because this might only happen to us once or twice in a hundred years, we are not prepared. We don't have the equipment to shift the snow, the means of getting around in it, the right clothes, houses or temperament to deal with it. Six more days of snow and ice to come, we are told. Will we survive?

The day brought some good news:  our cricket team held on desperately for a draw in the Test match against South Africa. We are now in a position where England cannot lose the series. If we win or draw the third match, then we win the series. South Africa cannot win the series; they need to win the third match in order to draw the series. Simple really, like all the rules of cricket!

Another piece of good news - Jonathan Ross is to leave the BBC. Perhaps the Beeb will have enough money to show some cricket next year.

The country might have had a third reason to celebrate today had the challenge to Gordon Brown's leadership succeeded but he survived to lead Labour to what will probably be an ignominious defeat in the general election. (That is almost a non-partisan view as this area is a safe Liberal Democrat seat.)

Well, at least we can keep on building snowmen for a few more days. Keep safe and warm.

The snow is snowing

Yes, we have snow even here on the North Devon coast. I know it is inconvenient with buses cancelled and schools closed but it is very pretty. We usually have to go right out to the moors to see snow so we are all like excited children here today. Just look at the view from my window:

Snow makes whiteness where it falls.

The bushes look like popcorn-balls.

And places where I always play,

Look like somewhere else today.

Marie Louise Allen

My garden certainly looks like somewhere else today. I hope that those of you who are used to this white stuff will forgive my whimsy but it is just what I needed to dispel the post-Christmas gloom.

New Year greetings

I would like to wish everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

The sea may look a bit choppy and grey and the air is definitely chilly, but look at that bright horizon!

My New Year inspiration from Thomas Merton:

I think what I need to learn is an almost infinite tolerance and compassion because negative thought gets nowhere. I am beginning to think that in our time we will correct almost nothing and get almost nowhere: but if we can just prepare a compassionate and receptive soil for the future, we will have done a great work.