Bienvenidos,
Below is a report on the stove building project we completed:
10 Stoves Finished in San Jose Calderas
After meeting with the local women of this village in August, buying all the materials, and building stoves we have completed one phase of our work in the relief efforts from Pacaya Volcano's eruption in May.
We tried really hard to have community involvement in the project, stressing that this is not a free gift. They had to provide labor, food, some of the materials, and attend a workshop on "how to use the stoves"
Through the donations we provided the majority of the materials: cinderblocks, bricks, iron casted stove, chimney tubes, chimney hat, and cement.
They were required to provide dirt, sand, volcanic rock, clay, building materials, one or two assistants from the family to be trained, and food for the day.
The basic construction of these stoves consists of a 3-cinderblock high structure. The base was then filled with dirt and volcanic rock before we layed the bricks. Once the bricks were layed (with clay) we placed on the iron-casted stove, installed the chimney, and put on the finishing touches. 15 days later after everything was dried the women were able to begin cooking on their stove.
Some of the boys in the family cutting bricks to form the oven-portion (where you'd place the firewood)
Laying the bricks with clay, forming an area to place the stove
Initially, there was hesitation. But once they tested their stoves and noticed a healthy kitchen free of smoke they were eager to continue to use it. After a week, realizing the amount of firewood they were saving on a daily basis they were very grateful for the project. The men of the family were thankful for reducing the amount of firewood they would have to be hauling in.
You might be thinking, wait they're still going to be cutting down trees!!! This is true, but over ten years this stove will be saving thousands of trees. And for families who live on $2/day they can't afford a $15 tank of natural gas every two months. If they're forced to use wood, find a way to reduce their footprint. That was our goal.
However most importantly, these women will be reducing the amount of eye infections, skin infections, and sparing their lungs the daily intake of smoke. I always say "Imagine standing over a campfire for 6 hours". That's about as accurate a comparison to their daily lives. I would return from their houses after a day of work and the bill of my cap would be charred black, my nose stuffy and black, and my face dusty. And these people have been doing this for their entire lives. And to think, there are roughly 40 more families in just this village who continue to fight this battle everyday.
Hopefully the pictures can give you justice to how dire this situation is on a daily basis. I've attached a link to the pictures - Stove Pictures
As I mentioned in the email, the remaining funds through the NGO will be used towards educational projects focused on the environment. This lake is entering it's final years if a serious conservation effort isn't undertaken. If not, we will be dealing with much bigger problems in this community in the future - Their access to water.
Thanks for reading, and for those who donated -- Thanks again!!!
Nice work Jesse, to you and the community members who participated! This is great to see - these stoves seem like such a win-win culturally and environmentally - in an area where reforestation is possible, burning wood to cook is no compromise for the environment - in my mind it is far superior to gas, which is non-renewable over human lifespans and contributes far more to environmental degradation and pollution - from the extraction process, to the transportation and refining, to its actual combustion. Wood is a local, renewable source which cuts out most of the intermediary processes that obscure the consumer of gas from seeing the negative effects of his or her consumption. I think we notice and think about the effects of local deforestation because they are right there, but if we were able to see first-hand the many effects of gas mining (which are rather diffuse rather than in our own backyards) we might not judge that as the most environmental option.
ReplyDeleteWith world population increasing exponentially, I think we have to recognize the superiority of technologies that are culturally compatible and make rational use of local, renewable resources. Keeping in mind that most rural, wood-burning Guatemalans have very low per capita environmental footprints compared to those consumers in the world who cook and heat with gas, what is not to celebrate about a technology which can improve people's health and lives, while helping to reduce local environmental pressures.