Kareena's Missions

In Africa, if you want something that reminds you home, you have to make it. In America you can walk into a grocery store and find everything: bagels, donuts, good bread, cheese, sour cream, pumpkin puree, creamer, hummus and more. In Africa you have much more limited options, even in the nicest grocery stores in the capital. So, I’ve learned how to make so many things. Each of these things has a memory attached to it: from people trying a new food, to learning to make something with my new friends.  So far my most popular treat has been Hotteok, or sweet Korean pancakes. I highly recommend you try this wherever you are! You can find box mixes in Asian markets like the 888 Market in Kansas City.  You make this super light sweet dough and let it rise for an hour. Then you mix brown sugar and cinnamon together for the filling. (Side note: you have to make your own brown sugar here too by mixing molasses and sugar together, the more molasses the darker the brown sugar.) After i...

     After getting back from the crusade I finally got to start truly working on Akuna. The factory was set up and ready to go; appliances were connected, lighting done, oil ordered, with everything in perfect order. I was ready to have a schedule, to have a mission and to serve a purpose. I walked in bright and early that Monday morning and started looking into different Akuna documents, delving into what needed to happen in order to make Akuna successful.       What actually happened...      My coworker/supervisor/friend Anna walked in around 8 and we headed over to the factory to pick up some soap from the drying container. I walked in to the factory and nothing had changed.  I had been gone for over 3 weeks and nothing had changed; unconnected wires hung from the ceiling, mixers rested on the floor exactly where they had been. The office was still a dark dungeon of a room and there was zero oil to continue the production of any ...