Let Them Eat Pie!

To finish out the month of September, 13 of our loan recipients attended a baking class where they learned to make Lemon Pie. And boy were they in for a treat! The classed commenced by sampling a slice of instructor Meche Paredes' best selling recipe. Everyone's eyes, including mine, were glazed over as we sunk our teeth into a really delicious pie. The women learned from start to finsh how to make homeade dough, a delicious lemon filling, and fluffy merengue topping. But most importantly, they left inspired by Meche's story. Meche owns a really small bakery across the street from the Hope House. She's always had an entrepreneurial spirit and her biggest obstacle in the beginning was her husband. When she finally decided to start her business, she started out small, selling to friends and family until her clientel begin to expand. Meche now makes S/.300 daily and is most proud that her two sons are able to attend a prestigious high school on her tab. The irony of Meche's story is that her husband is now her right-hand man and dough boy. Yes, dough boy. She depends on him to prepare all her dough and wait on her beck in call regarding the bakery's daily operations (since its her business that sustains the family). What most inspired me was her willingness to teach our women her best kept secrets in the hope that they too would pay it forward. So you may be wondering...if the women ate a pie and made a second, what happend to the second one? Half went to the nuns that run the facility we are housed at and the second half went into Nora, Hugo, and Berta's (our computer teacher) belly. Ohhh....and mine too.

~Desy