Amid the delicious smells of oven-fresh bread, 24-year old John Ndiuwayezu enthusiastically explains how to bake a bun. “Today we learned to make bread. We already know donuts, samosas, cakes and cookies. Our next challenge is fruit pie.” John is one of the 36 bakery trainees at the learning center of Cooperation and Development (C&D) in Moroto.

After class, the trainees’ products sell like hot cakes on the Moroto market. “When there is a birthday they place an order with us. They know we make good quality.” These funds are  re-purposed to buy the necessary ingredients such as sugar and flour. After finishing the 6-month training, John wants to continue practicing his skills in a hotel, with the hope of one day opening his own bakery.

According to Kul Chandra Timalsina, Area Coordinator for C&D, the goal is to become a bakery testing center of the Ugandan Directorate of Industrial Training, with the aim of gathering the expertise in the region and to keep the trainings going for many more years.

Trainer Helen Lorika  is a Karamojong with 20 years of cooking experience in hotels all over the country. She decided to returned to her birth village to unlock the bakery skills in the region. “I came to teach in Karamoja because I want to give back to my community. There is much potential here.”

Helen loves teaching and says that it requires sensitivity and good social skills, especially because there are some physically disabled trainees in her class.  “Instead of calling it special needs, I call it special abilities. They are just as motivated as the other ones to learn.”

The bakery trainings are organized by Enabel’s Support to Skilling Uganda (SSU) project, as part of the Skills Development Fund, with financial support from Irish Aid. The aim is to equip young Karamojong with employable skills to increase the livelihood opportunities in the region.