Pretty Please with Sugar on Top?

As a Peace Corps volunteer, winning over your community is an integral part of your success. It is vital to identify and address the needs and desires of your community members and work together towards a shared vision for the future. Through this partnership and involvement in beneficial projects they become stakeholders in their own advancement and development, both personally and collectively. Seeking to find a particular activity that will spark the interest of the youth of my town has dominated my thoughts and intentions during these introductory months here in Poroto.

Certain groups of people in my community were immediately fascinated with my presence and didn’t hesitate to befriend the “gringa” who had taken up residence in their town. Most of these early fans were little children and old men, who happily offered a smile, wave, or anecdote about Poroto. Others seemed more skeptical, but with time I have managed to acquaint myself with a significant portion of the population. Reaching youth was relatively simple during the school year, as the colegio offered a captive audience with whom I could work. However, as summer began I was forced to become more creative in my programs.

The summer programs I started were fairly successful, but I still wanted something that I truly enjoyed doing and that would reach youth not involved in school-related activities. I love baking, and my community slowly began to realize that I would happily whip up a special treat if I found out there was a birthday going on. Before long I was being summoned to prepare goodies for several community members, and the local store owner handed over the ingredients for my cake recipe before I so much as opened my mouth. Youth showed interest in my baking, and various community members encouraged me to start a “taller de reposteria.” I met with several teenage girls in my community, focusing on those who aren’t involved in other activities, including adolescent mothers and older teens, and proposed the idea of a baking club.

The idea was a big hit, and the classes began immediately. Although a baking club may seem like a trivial use of time, I’ve found that as we’ve spent whipping egg whites, waiting for cakes to bake, or rolling out pie dough, the girls have opened up to me and built “confianza” amongst themselves. The girls have also learned how to effectively utilize community resources; baking our cakes in the local panaderia, community member’s houses, or even convincing the alcalde to allow us to use the electricity in the plaza de armas. Additionally, local fruits from the girls’ chacra are proudly incorporated into our recipes, and our torta de pina and keke de platano are quite delicious.