Over the summer, I was surprised to learn that elaborately decorated cakes are all the rage in Freetown. It turns out every celebration must have a cake or two and people are willing to pay for the perfect one. Also over the summer, I was less surprised to learn that some of our graduates from last year have fallen into the "out-of-school" trap. They are not alone, in fact, this is a huge problem in the country where girls are compelled to leave school for a variety of reasons yet their job prospects force them into the bottom of the economic food chain or worse into the sex trade.
Thank fully, the girls reached out to SGUW and we listened and then we moved- because that's what we do. We started a job skills training project, partnering with training centers to provide employment skills to our out-of-school Strong Girls. In Freetown, we partnered with Elsie's baking to train girls to bake those fancy cakes.
Our partner Elsie has been training bakers for years in her colorful studio. The students are learning their new trade by taking the six week introductory course and it looks like they're having a lot of fun doing it.
The first cake, excellent job.
those cakes look wonderful! And the girls are wonderful too- what a great idea!