During the lunch break, Tami and Jela bring out their food flasks, and Ruka as usual, is buried in some classwork.

'Ruka if you come to stay at our house for a few days, I will teach you how to cook pap', Tami offers.
'I can cook pap', Ruka shoots back.
'But two weeks ago, you said you cooked pap that had lumps in it', Tami reminds her.
'That was two weeks ago', Ruka replies.
'And what has changed between then and now?' Tami asks.
'I have more experience.'
'Okay, bring pap to school tomorrow', says Tami.
'Not so sure about that', replies Ruka.
'I knew it, you can't cook a thing!' Tami shouts.
'No, I don't have pap at home so I can't bring it to school tomorrow.' Ruka defends herself.
'You should buy pap on your way home then', Jela advises.
In defiance, Ruka struts out her tongue at the two girls who giggle at her.

The next day is Thursday — time for sports practice. The whole class go to the school field for practice; Ruka runs up and down the field throughout the morning routine.

The school bell rings for a break, and most of the students leave the field, but Ruka and a few others stay behind, skipping here and there, basking in the sun and having a great time till the school bell rings for classes to start.

Ruka and her classmates go to their class and everyone is so busy for the rest of the day that no one remembers to talk about food till closing time.

The next day is Friday, and Ruka is glad the week has come to an end. It is time for a well-deserved rest.
During the morning assembly, Tami sneaks up to Ruka and asks quietly:
'So how are you spending the weekend?'
'Sleeping.'
'I dare you to cook something.'
Ruka smiles, she just might try to cook something after all.

'I will ask mummy if she will let me cook', she thinks to herself but says nothing to Tami so as not to start another episode.

Ruka's Cooking Journey

Later that day, around 7.00 pm, Ruka joins her two sisters who are warming their dinner in the kitchen.
'Tomorrow I'll cook bean porridge for everyone', says Ruka.
'Haa. . haa. . . ha, you don't know how to cook it', Sujia says.
'You can show me', Ruka insists.
'Why do you want to cook tomorrow?' Kera asks.
'All my friends can cook except me. They are laughing at me', Ruka pouts.
'How do you know they are not just pretending?' Kera suggests.
'No, Tami can cook well.'
'Do you have proof, have you seen her cook?' Sujia inquires.
'Tami is always talking about how she cooked this and how she cooked that. Now she's laughing at me that I can't cook. Tami cooks her own food and brings it to school. . . And it's always tasty.'
'Ruka! Mummy has already told us not to eat other people's food', Kera scolds her.

Voodoo is rampant in African culture. Practically every mother, at some point, has warned her children not to eat food from anyone outside the family to avoid becoming a victim of voodoo.

'I didn't eat it, but Jela says her food is tasty and it's true. Her food looks tasty.'
'I'm not sure mummy will want you to prepare breakfast', says Kera, thinking out loud.
'I will ask her myself', and with that Ruka goes to the parlour.

Their mother is on a couch reading a newspaper. She is reading the section where new jobs are listed, trying to write out jobs her husband might qualify for.
Most of the listings are short-term contracts that span an average of three months. Her husband recently got one of this type of jobs after so many unsuccessful applications, and now his contract will end in six weeks. The job is on weekends and it is in a neighbouring town. So nowadays, he travels out of town on weekends.

'Mummy, since we are eating bean porridge tomorrow, I want to cook breakfast', says Ruka sheepishly.
Her mother is too engrossed in the newspaper to respond.
'Muummyy'
'Hmm-mm'
'I said I want to cook breakfast tomorrow.'
'Why?' She looked up surprised.
'I'm old enough to cook.'
'Hmm', she says as she resumes reading the dailies.
'All my friends can cook except me.'
'Hmm.'
'Kera or Sujia will assist me.'
'I will assist her', Kera yells from the kitchen; she had been listening to the conversation.
With that, their mother murmurs 'Okay', so Ruka will leave and let her read in peace.
'Thank you!' Ruka shouts in a sing-song tone.

Ruka hops back to the kitchen to update her sisters who had been listening anyway.
'I'm cooking breakfast tomorrow, mummy said okay', she announces joyfully.
Sujia chuckles thoughtfully, which makes Ruka say:
'But Kera will assist me.'
'Did I talk?' Sujia asks with faked innocence.
'Well', Kera says, 'I am not going to touch anything tomorrow. I will simply sit down with a novel and instruct you on what to do. Okay?'
'Okay.'
'In that case, soak 4 cups of beans in this bowl', says Kera while pushing a big green bowl to Ruka, 'make sure you fill it with water, it will soften the beans.'
'Okay.'
Ruka takes the bowl and does as instructed. In her heart, Kera feels relieved that her workload will reduce.

On Saturday the next day, Ruka wakes up at 6.10 am. Feeling excited, she goes to Kera's bed, the three girls share the same room but they each have a bed to themselves.

'Kera it's morning already', she nudges her eldest sister slightly.
'Hmm-mm', Kera mumbles.
'Let's prepare breakfast on time.'
'Hmm.'
Kera wishes she could sleep till 9'oclock. She slept late last night after watching a movie on her mother's phone till 11.00pm.
'I will do the work but you should be there to guide me', Ruka whines.
'Hmmm', Kera turns to the other side and curls up.
'Eh, I'm not leaving till you get up.'
On hearing that, Kera silently says, 'Rinse the beans five times till the water is no longer brown.'
'Okay, I will come back.'

Off she goes to the kitchen. She rinses the beans till the water is clear, then goes back to Kera who is busy sleeping. She nudges her again till she opens one eye. 'I have rinsed it well. What next?'
'Pour the beans in a pot with a bit of water, not much water, then a teaspoon of salt. Put it on fire, wait for it to soften before you wake me up.'
'Okay, thanks', Ruka gets up to go.
'Turn the heat down low, you hear me?'
Kera hopes to squeeze in at least an extra hour of sleep, free of disturbance.
'Okay.'
Ruka hurries to do as instructed. She turns the fire down and proceeds to wash dishes while the beans cook.

Sujia is already awake but she chooses to remain on her bed. It is Kera's turn to cook breakfast and Ruka is helping her with it. So Kera is sleeping to her heart's content, and Sujia is loosening her braided kinky hair. After that, she will wash and oil it. She hopes to finish all that today so tomorrow, Sunday, she can plait it.

About 55 minutes later, Ruka comes back to inform Kera.
'Kera', Ruka nudges, 'The beans is soft now, what should I do?'
Kera turns and stretches; yawning, she says, 'Dice three large onions and add it. Then add a little amount of palm oil and pepper. Let it cook for exactly six minutes before coming back.'
'Hope your beans taste nice', Sujia says playfully.
Ruka smiles at her in return.
'When you finish cooking, please join me. Let's loosen my hair together.'
'I won't join you because I have some homework to do.'
'I know you will say that. . . Shoo.'
'Don't shoo me, I'm already on my way to the kitchen. You don't normally help me with my hair either. You know that.'
'I will help you the next time you ask.'
'That was what you said about three weeks ago, but you didn't help me last week.'
'I'm going to help you this time around.'
"Uhm, I will help you when I finish cooking.'

Ruka does her best to follow Kera's instructions. By the time she returns to the room, Kera is already awake and waiting for her to come back.
'I think the beans is well cooked now, come and see.' She says.
Kera sluggishly gets up and follows her to the kitchen.

As she opens the pot to stir the beans, she cries out:
'What is this?'
'You don't like it?' Ruka asks sheepishly.
'I said, "Add a little water", not a gallon of water. This porridge is half beans, half water; you added too much water.' She exclaims.

Ruka keeps quiet, not knowing what to say.
'What will mummy say?' Kera wonders in alarm. She dreads being at the receiving end of her mother's verbal shots.
'Mummy will talk.' She murmurs to herself while trying to think of an appropriate remedy.
'If I leave it on the fire to thicken, I will burn fuel and fuel is expensive. It's drizzling outside, I can't use firewood or charcoal now.' Kera muses.
'We can eat it like that. I will measure the cups of water I add next time', Ruka says quietly.
Kera starts to brace herself for what her mother will say.

'You could have waited for me to wake up, but no. . .' Kera mutters in regret as she turns off the stove. 'You are too restless for your own good.'
'Sorry,' says Ruka.
'Don't tell me sorry', Kera snaps at her loudly.
Sujia hears what sounds like a rancour so she saunters to the kitchen to investigate.

'What happened?' Sujia asks.
No one replies.
She sees Ruka looking remorseful, Kera looking annoyed and quickly figures out that the beans did not turn out well. So she strolls to the steaming pot to take a look.
'Oh. . .' She says with a confused look. 'How are we going to eat this?'
No one replies.
'Why did you cook something this watery!' Sujia asks in amazement.
'I didn't know I added too much water.'
'How can you not know? Don't you have eyes; you can't gauge things?' Sujia asks.
'I had no idea you were as clueless as this', Kera says bitterly. 'I would not have allowed you to cook at all.'

'I followed your instructions', Ruka tries to defend herself from the criticism.
'I did not instruct you to add a gallon of water. Do you know how much fuel I will waste if I boil this beans till it thickens? You know mummy does not want us to waste things', Kera blurts out.
'I only added five cups of water.'
'You used those very large cups didn't you?' Sujia inquires.
'Yes.'
'And your common sense did not tell you that five cups is too much for beans that has been soaked overnight?' Kera asks in a raised tone.

Ruka starts to feel bad, all she wants is to learn a new skill.
As with most beginners, the first attempt is not usually stellar but regular practice brings out the best in people. She had hoped that her sisters would train her. Instead, they were criticising her.

As it is, she will have to look for a new trainer; that will be mummy herself. She will tell mummy everything and ask for help. With that, she turns and goes to their mother's room leaving her sisters in the kitchen with their lamentations.

Mrs Simé Watiro, their mother has no idea of the rancour going on in the kitchen. She had woken up at 6.30 in the morning and immediately gotten on the phone with her husband, Mr Musa Watiro. She had informed him of the job listings that are out in the weekly bulletin.

The two of them went back and forth on which job would likely give him a chance. Mrs Watiro was too engrossed in her conversation to notice that Ruka had been standing at the doorway for the past ten minutes. When she finally turns and notices Ruka, she motions to her to sit down, not knowing why she stood at the doorway anyway.

'The girls are doing fine. I just hope you get another job before December, it will be a good end-of-the-year present for us', Simé says to Musa.

'I put in a lot of effort to make money. Sometimes I wonder why things are hard for me; my father does not have strong connections like your father so I can't get a government job. I wish I had met you when your father was still alive. By the time we met, your father had passed away the previous month', Musa explains for the 1000th time in the years they have been married.
'I didn't go with you because you are a rich man', Simé replies.
'I know, but sometimes you think I am not putting in enough effort.'
'I did not say that.'
'Simé, I can read between the lines.'
Simé glances down at her daughter who has settled down on the floor at the foot of her bed. Not wanting to discuss a potentially sensitive subject in the presence of any of her children, she says:
'I will call back, I need to brush my mouth and do some cleaning today.'
'Okay, greet the girls for me.'
'I will, bye.'
'Alright, bye.'

'Mummy, you have not brushed your mouth?' Ruka asks.
'No, have you brushed?'
'No, I was busy cooking.'
'Kera was in the kitchen with you?'
'No, she was sleeping. I was the only one in the kitchen this morning.'
'Kera allowed you to cook all by yourself?' Simé asks in surprise.
'Yes, she told me what to do and I did it.'
'When did she tell you?'
'This morning. I woke her up and asked her, then she went back to sleep.'
'Is the beans okay?'
'Uhmm, they said I added too much water to the beans.'
'You added too much water to the beans?'
'Uhm, I only added five cups.'
'Bring the pot, let me see what you cooked.'
So Ruka goes to the kitchen to bring the pot of beans for her mother to see.

On her way to the kitchen, she hears her sisters having a conversation.
'Once the drizzling stops, we should set up the charcoal stove', Sujia says.
'I hope the rain stops on time before mummy finds out', Kera replies in a worried tone.
On getting to the kitchen, Ruka says: 'Mummy said I should bring the pot.'
'You told her already?' Kera asks in surprise.
'Yes.'
Ruka picks up the pot and marches to their mother's room.

The girls follow Ruka out of curiosity; there is not much they can do. The rain has suddenly become heavy and they have to ration fuel usage anyway.
Ruka places the pot right in front of their mother.

'Hmm', their mother says, inspecting the beans. 'Kera, you should have stayed in the kitchen with her; you know she is just learning.'
'She didn't wait for me to wake up before she started', Kera explains.
'You know what?' Their mother says to Ruka, 'If you know you want to start cooking, you have to stay in the kitchen more often. Like this evening, you should skip those cartoons you normally watch and stay in the kitchen while I cook dinner.'
'Yes', Ruka replies.
'Should we thicken it on the stove?' Sujia asks.
'We're eating it with garri; I don't want anyone wasting our fuel.' She replies, looking at her two older daughters.
'Yes.'
Garri is made from cassava. The tubers are peeled, fermented, grated and then roasted. It is a common staple food in many parts of Africa.
So that evening and for the rest of the weekend, Ruka spent time watching either her mother or her sisters cook.

Time for Decisions

At the assembly ground on Monday morning, the students line up class by class as they always do. Ruka lines up with her classmates, JSS2B students and listens to the announcements and instructions.
Then she hears Tami who is standing somewhere behind her in the line, giggling with two other girls.

'She is about the only one in our class who can't cook a thing', Tami says.
Ruka glances backwards and sees the girls looking in her direction and giggling. She does not like the fact that Tami is gossipping about her with other girls.
She has not told any of her classmates about her watery beans adventure and as things are, she does not think it will be a good idea to mention it.

She looks back at the girls and whispers loudly 'I do cook sometimes.'
The girl directly in front of Ruka turns to her and whispers, 'Sshh, stop talking; a school prefect may notice and punish you for making noise at the assembly.'
So Ruka stands straight, with her eyes forward and pretends not to hear the chit-chat behind her.

Jela, who is also in the line hears the whole conversation but acts like she did not hear a word. She does not want to face punishment first thing on Monday morning.
Unluckily for Tami and her talkative friends, they just don't know when too much is too much; they continue their chat until one of the school prefects on duty spots them.

She orders them to go to the podium at the front and kneel beside it, facing the assembly. That is where they will be till the assembly ends.
Of course, the whole school will know why they are punished; noisemakers are usually punished in that manner.

Tami's older sister, Tahimi, a SS3D student watches with surprise as Tami and two of her classmates walk to the front of the assembly to kneel.

'What was she thinking making noise on the assembly ground?' Tahimi thinks to herself as she stands in her line, 'I will scold her when I get home.'

'Serves them right ', Ruka thinks to herself with a smirk.

At the end of the assembly, the girls receive permission to stand up and go to class.

In class, a few classmates pat them playfully on the back, while some pass comments like:
'Ah, sorry.'
'I saw you kneeling today, sorry. You hear?'
'How are you?'
'Don't talk at the assembly again, you hear? Sorry.'
'Thanks', Tami says as she nods here and there in response to their sympathies.
To Ruka's relief, Tami spends most of the day in silence. Before the closing of the day, Ruka had made up her mind to keep her cooking journey to herself; it is better to share her mistakes with sympathisers and not mockers.

Tami goes home thinking of getting a good bath because the sun is really hot. She gets home and opens the front door with her keys; everywhere is quiet. Her parents are not yet back and Tahimi will arrive in two hours because she usually stays back for extra lessons. The school arranged lessons for final year students.

Tami heads straight to the girls' room, drops her bag on the floor and goes to have her bath. She eats a bit and settles down to have a light nap. Sometime later, she hears Tahimi come in.

'Welcome', says Tami.
'Hello', Tahimi replies in a tired tone.
She, too, goes to have her bath and eat before returning to rest.

After a while, she remembers that Tami was punished earlier that day.

'Why did you embarrass yourself like that?' Tahimi breaks the silence suddenly.
'How?' Tami asks, not yet connecting the dots.
'This morning, I saw you kneeling. You are old enough to keep quiet now.'
'Oh', is all Tami can say.
'And my friends saw you too. They were telling me in class that they saw you being punished.'
'What did you tell them?'
'What could I say? . . I said yes, I know. . . What could I say?' Tahimi shrugs.
'Hmm', Tami says as she remembers the events of the day.

'Why were you talking on the assembly ground?'
'I was chatting.'
'You were chatting on the assembly ground?!'
'Hmm.'

'What were you talking about?'
'I was telling Mija and Paju that Ruka can't cook.'
'Ahh, what is your problem with Ruka? Leave the girl alone. If she can't cook, how does that affect your life?'
'I was just joking about it.'
'And you got yourself into trouble. Tami may your mouth not kill you.'
'Do you know that Ruka did not say sorry to me this morning? She knows I was punished and she didn't even say sorry. I just kept quiet, I didn't say anything to her.'
'Did she know you were talking about her?'
'Yes.'
'And you expect her to say sorry?'
'She knows we were just joking now', Tami says in defence.
'Ehn, next time don't joke then.'
'What she did, is it good?'
'See, whatever issues you have with her, don't go and be talking about it on the assembly ground. You should not disgrace me in front of my classmates, Tahimi cautions.
'See, I won't talk to Ruka again, ever', Tami says feeling vengeful.
'Whatever you do, make sure you don't get punished on the assembly ground', Tahimi repeats.
'No problem on that', Tami replies.