The cake woman

In Uganda, an east African country the size of Oregon, Diana Kingston is often called a “great ambassador for America,” a “blessing” and “the white person who bakes.”

Kingston, a 27-year-old Peace Corps volunteer and Omaha native, landed in the developing nation two years ago and has since mixed a bit of entrepreneurial spirit with her background in dietetics and nutrition to open a cake bakery called Kid's Cafe.

With the help and financial assistance of Sweet Magnolia's bakery at 813 N. 40th St., Kingston, the daughter of Bill and Sharon Kingston of Omaha, has mentored 25 women living in Ibanda, a town of about 30,000 where she is stationed. She taught the women the intricacies of properly running a successful business and, more important, how to work independently, without the influence or oversight of males.

The positive impact of her venture is reflected in the nicknames given to her by her Ibandan students.

“The bakery is so important because it has become a place to empower women and a place to discuss issues,” Kingston by phone from Uganda recently.

Kingston said women in Uganda often are subjected to domestic abuse for which their husbands rarely are punished. Wives who contract HIV from unfaithful spouses are commonplace, Kingston added.

“Dealing with those social injustices has been a major reality to deal with,” Kingston said.

Each of the 25 women who now run Kid's Cafe has HIV, she said. They care for about 265 orphans who lost their parents to AIDS.

The bakery was named for the children, who often play games or read there during the day.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly 70 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS cases and 76 percent of all deaths resulting from AIDS, according to the Uganda AIDS Commission. But according to the Peace Corps, the infection rate in the Ugandan population has dropped dramatically over the last decade and now is about 6 percent, down from around 30 percent.

The women of Kid's Cafe are earning a new identity, thanks to the business, Kingston said.

“They're beginning to be known as the women who make cakes rather than just carriers of HIV.”

As a country, Uganda has great economic potential. Fertile land and regular rainfall support the country's agriculture-based exports, but political instability and economic mismanagement have historically made Uganda one of the poorest countries in the world, according to the U.S. State Department.

Sweet Magnolia's and its customers have donated about $1,500 to Kid's Cafe. Bakery owner Amy Chin, a friend of the Kingston family, also provided equipment such as pots, pans and measuring cups to what she now calls her “sister bakery.”

Just inside the entrance of Sweet Magnolia's hangs a poster with pictures of Kingston working with women at the African bakery.

The poster is a reminder of “how easy we have it,” Chin said.

Sharing with people in a country more than 8,000 miles away has been fulfilling for Chin and for her niece, Amber Mausbach, who also works at the bakery.

“For them to get the same type of enjoyment that we do is amazing,” Chin said. “When I think about it, $1,500 doesn't seem like that much money.”

Kingston arrived in Uganda in August 2007 and spent two months learning about Ugandan culture and Runyankole, the Ubantu language spoken in Ibanda and villages scattered across the southwest region of the country.

Three months later, Kingston said, she was invited to a birthday party for Ibanda's orphans at the town's Child Development Center, run by Compassion International, a nonprofit organization.

A dozen youngsters, all with birthdays that month, gathered around a miniature cake, ready to blow out the candles. They extinguished the candles, then stood patiently as the center's director labored to cut the small cake.

First a butter knife was used. No luck.

Then, to Kingston's dismay, a machete was used to hack away at the hard confection.

It was a shocking experience, she said, but it also presented an opportunity.

Kingston volunteered to make the next month's cake, and when December's birthday celebration rolled around Kingston proudly unveiled her sweet sensation: white cake with raspberry frosting. Well, actually it was white frosting flavored with a packet of raspberry Crystal Light.

“The cake was fresh, there was a soft icing on it, so it was bizarre for people to have it.”

Kingston's baking skills were a hit, so she baked cakes for the next month, and the next, and the next.

Ibanda's interest in Kingston's cakes grew.

The child center's caretakers approached her for baking lessons, and she happily agreed.

Using local ingredients and makeshift utensils, Kingston taught the women to bake over campfires. “I didn't realize that cakes were such a special thing,” she said. “I took a pretty nonchalant approach to it, not realizing how important it was.”

Now, after many months of teaching, overcoming language barriers and dealing with a foreign culture, Kingston has Kid's Cafe operating as a real business, receiving and filling customers' orders.

“It's something that has really impacted the community because people are able to order cakes locally, which they weren't able to do before,” Kingston said.

The Ugandan women run the bakery now, with occasional guidance from their teacher.

In a country and town where agriculture is king, Kingston hopes the Kid's Cafe idea will spread.

“I really think it will succeed. It has the potential to be a model business and a place where people can come and learn how to run a business.

“I see a lot of potential for the bakery. I just wish I could see it all the way through.”

Kingston is scheduled to leave Uganda on Oct. 7.

Contact the writer:

444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com

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