Home Science Practical Exam

The Form IVs at St. Monica's have been taking mock exams for the past two weeks. The mocks are practice KCSE exams. They will take four mock exams before they take the actual KCSE exam in November. One of the elective classes at our school is home science (home economics or consumer sciences as it is now known in the States.) I was TOD (Teacher on Duty) this past week. One of the responsibilities is to walk around the compound making sure students are in class, doing inspection, etc. On one of my rounds I noticed that the home science room was busy so I stopped in to see what was happening. They were doing their practical exam.

Their task was to use three different preparation methods: frying, steaming and boiling to prepare food for an invalid: porridge, fried ground nuts and cake. They fried the ground nuts (peanuts), boiled porridge and steamed the cake.

Several days before they had taken the written portions of the exam. On the written portion they had to write the recipes, make a shopping list, etc. That day they were following their own instructions and doing the actual cooking and serving. This is the improvised oven they used to steam the cake. Down at the bottom they lit a charcoal fire. On the bottom rack of the oven they placed a pan of water and the top shelf was for the cake. Some of the cakes were baked in muffin tins, bread pans or round cake pans.

I talked mostly to the teacher during the exam as I felt I shouldn't be distracting the girls while they were taking the exam. Once the food was prepared the girls had to decorate the table and create their own centerpieces. Teachers were then invited to sample and help grade their work. I didn't take pictures during this time because I didn't want to risk the possibility of lowering their grades so I didn't get a picture of the beautiful presentation of their food. I must say the cakes I tasted were much, much better than any other Kenyan cakes I've eaten. They couldn't believe I had never tasted porridge before. They make theirs from fermented millet.

Now the exam is over, the teacher has left, cleanup is almost completed and the girls were able to make mandazi(similar to donuts)as a treat since they didn't get to have any of the cake that they baked.