Elizabeth Warren, Program Assistant, August 13, 2012
Saturday was an exciting day at the Hope for Haiti headquarters in Les Cayes, Haiti, as Carmene’s cooking school students prepared for their graduation ceremony! The graduates arrived at the house early in the morning and spent the entire day in the kitchen, perfecting their final dishes. While they were cooking, Paula and I blew up balloons while Jennifer and Jessica tied ribbons on the chairs to make the house look festive.
For the ceremony itself, we invited friends and family members of the graduates as well as Hope for Haiti staff to participate in the tasting and celebrations. Each graduate presented her dishes to the hungry audience and gave a description of how she prepared it, as a final test of her knowledge of cooking. The guests who attended tasted each dish and rated it on its presentation, taste, and the verbal description provided by the chef. The spread included delicious macaroni and cheese, roast chicken, tasty fish, unique rice dishes, and an assortment of cakes and cocktails. By the time we were finished tasting, no one had any room for second helpings!
This is Carmene’s fifth successful session of Cooking School class. The four graduating students started in January and spent 32 weeks attending courses every Saturday afternoon. The curriculum, designed and taught entirely by Professor Carmene Alverbe, who has shared her gifts with Hope for Haiti for the past five years, covers proper cleaning and preparation of dishes as well as training in hospitality.
Now that the students have successfully graduated, they will go on to work in restaurants, provide nutritious dishes for their families and households, and share their knowledge with others. Evelyn, a student of the fourth class who was present at the graduation, shared how Carmene’s Cooking School has helped her. “Definitely, I have a job now because of the class. Some people don’t appreciate cooking, but they haven’t practiced all the skills we learned here.”
From the entire team at Hope for Haiti, congratulations to Fritza, Alice, Fabienne and Monique!