10 km Banana Bread

(Annette cooking dinner at the house on a standard characoal stove)
One of my favourite people in Uganda is Annette. Annette is the daughter of my host mother and the impromptu head of the household. Annette is quick with facial expressions, has no shortage of ridiculous stories, laughs from her belly, widens her eyes with excitement and tells me things as honest as they are. She is more beautiful with a shaven head, which accounts to well-set facial features and makes me incredibly envious. Her fashion sense is impeccable and her purse collection makes her cement room come alive. Even her casual houseware is brightly colored and tailored. She is the headmaster of her own school and runs her life accordingly. I love my biological sister and would never replace her, but if I could adopt another sister is just might be Annette. When I found out it was Annette’s birthday I naturally started planning a birthday treat. Though Annette and I disagree on spiciness we both have a soft spot for sweets. The first time I met Annette she offered me cake; when I gave her chocolates from America she talked about it for a week. So when I say birthday treat, I mean birthday TREAT.

I instantly became inclined to make banana bread with lots of chocolate frosting. The only problem being the fact that there is no oven in my entire village or anywhere in the surrounding 10km area. I knew I could use the oven in the FSD office in Jinja but that would require me leaving after work in rush hour, taking the taxi 10km, baking it in the office and then coming home in the dark before dinner. I was explaining this to a friend online and he said, “Well your banana bread is delicious, so I imagine banana bread that requires you having to go 10km tastes even better.” I decided to test his theory.

After some persuasion I was able to recruit my host brother as my co-pilot. So Thursday after work I rushed to the post office, waited 20 minutes for Steven who had a million other things to do especially considering the electricity and water in the entire village had gone out again, waited 15 minutes for the bus, then decided to take boda bodas to the main road, then waited 15 minutes for the taxi to fill up and leave, then manoeuvred through town to buy the remaining ingredients for the bread, then finally walking to the office. The office, luckily, was quiet and the baking went very smooth thanks to Steven’s mixing skills. Finally the smell of two pans of warm banana bread filled the room. Steven and I wrapped it up, leaving a little bit for the office staff and then headed home. At home, we told Annette of the surprise, so she decided to buy sodas for all the kids (very rare treat) and everyone all sat around to the table to eat and celebrate (another rare occurrence, usually the children eat in the kitchen or on the floor). Annette’s anticipation for the treat was gratifying but it was little Daniella who blessed the cake in the dinner prayer, that made me think all the hassle might be worth it. After dinner, I handed out birthday gifts, following Aunt Peggy’s tradition, everyone got an "unbirthday gift" in the form of a bracelet special for each person. As I handed each person their bracelet, everyone clapped. Such appreciation for little round items. Then it was time. I unveiled the banana bread and prepared to frost. As I pulled out the frosting the kids began to ask me what it was. At that point, I experienced cultural shock. Give me squirters instead of toilet paper, fried terminates as treats, overstuffed cattle cars as taxis and marriage proposals at bus stops and I will be fine. But an ignorance of frosting is simply shocking and disheartening. As a frosting connoisseur I was happy to introduce them to this delight of fluffy, spreadable, delicious cream. I added an extra layer of chocolate, cut the cake into pieces and put it on squares of tin foil to be passed around. In Uganda, if the food is good you do not talk while you eat, so as silence descended and all that was heard was the crinkling of foil, I realized that travelling 10km really does make banana bread taste better.