Shamba Shape Up and Munda Makeover: eCooking Awareness Raising in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia

Date: 20th November 2023

Categories: Clean Cooking, Electric Cooking

By Dr Will Clements (Gamos Ltd.)

A fruitful collaboration between MECS and The Mediae Company, creators of a very popular TV programme on experiences of farmers in East Africa called Shamba Shape Up, has produced a total of 31 myth-busting eCooking videos to raise awareness and shift perceptions, as eCooking continues to take off. Many of the videos, which have been broadcast live in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia, can now be found on the MECS YouTube channel, and represent invaluable tools for everyone in eCooking, from ministers to cooks. Recipes, tips, techniques, cookers, costs, misconceptions, and much more, find out everything you want to know in these videos.

There are 6 segments on eCooking in Uganda, in both English and Luganda, including: how to cook tasty meat in an EPC, comparing costs of cooking fuels, EPCs and eCooking journeys, and perspectives on eCooking from Umeme. In this video, Deborah finds that cooking beans costs only 300 Ugandan shillings in an EPC and takes just 50 minutes, massive savings compared to charcoal (UGX 5,000, 3 hours) and gas (UGX 6,550, 2 hours).

**Image 1**: Deborah and her family enjoying beans cooked cheaply, quickly and easily in the EPC after training from Victoria: (Image taken from MECS YouTube link).

There are a whopping 19 segments on eCooking in Kenya, with Swahili versions soon to be uploaded into the linked playlist. The segments cover a wide range of hot topics around eCooking, including EPC usage, cost comparisons, recipes, and so on. In this video, we hear from Mama, who is over 70 years old and still has to collect firewood to make food for her family. Agnes Kalyonge, also known as Jikoni Magic on social media, shows Mama how to cook faster, cleaner, cheaper, and smoke free!

**Image 2**: Mama explaining the difficulties of cooking with firewood including that it takes three hours to cook beans: (Image taken from MECS YouTube link).

There are also 5 segments of Munda Makeover, Zambia’s answer to Shamba Shape Up, ranging from buying an EPC to exploring its benefits to cooking tasty Zambian beans in an EPC! In this video, Clement demonstrates how to cook Nshima, the equivalent of Kenyan Ugali and Ugandan Posho, in an EPC. Not only it is delicious, this Nshima is half the cost of Nshima cooked with charcoal. See the eCookbooks for cheap eCooking recipes for delicious cuisine in Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Bhutan!

**Image 3:** Clement serves up some delicious Nshima for Felistas and her family, cooked with no difficulty in an EPC. (Image taken from MECS YouTube link).

Victoria Komuhangi is the star of the Ugandan segments, with special thanks also to Jimmy Agaba and Peter Mwesiga for their fantastic appearances. Victoria’s story is inspiring and an example of eCooking championing through multiple avenues. MECS wanted to replicate Kenya’s Shamba Shape Up success in Uganda and, by chance, a colleague in Kenya forwarded an advert featuring Victoria, about her online eCooking training sessions that she was already providing. She had created an eCooking training business during COVID, which was going very well. As an electrical engineer, Victoria is knowledgeable on eCooking and the technical aspects of cooking appliances and processes. So, MECS made contact, and Victoria has now become a key eCooking champion in Uganda, but it’s all down to her! She has now taken part in the six Shamba Shape Up segments, continues to run training for her clients, and has even started buying and selling eCooking appliances herself to a network of customers who trust her over others to provide them with quality appliances. MECS is very grateful to Victoria for her hard work and continued efforts in eCooking awareness raising in Uganda. The journey continues!