Holy Smoke-Or Not!!

Wow! One of the projects that I have neglected to talk about is the Fogones Mejorados. This is an improved stove that we will be helping the villagers put in each of their homes. One of the major problems in developing countries is that they cook with wood, and many times the stoves are inside the home or in an area directly outside the home. The family then breathes in the smoke all day and most of the night causing serious lung and respiratory problems.
These ladies are starting the process of building their stove. We have an experienced person from Project Global Village who is training the people to build them for themselves. This is an important point in our philosophy of how to do missions. When these folks build the stoves for themselves they will be able to repair them if necessary, will be able to help others build their stoves, and perhaps can help other villages put in the improved stoves as well, for a profit. This is one way of helping them to increase their income, teach them a skill, and help them develop pride and self confidence.

The design of the stove causes it to use 60% less firewood than the old design. This is huge because there will be less time spent collecting wood, and there will be less deforestation as a result as well. Each stove will have a chimney to allow the smoke to pass out of the cooking area reducing greatly the inhalation of smoke and all of the ill effects that go along with it.

As you can see this young lady is delighted to have a new stove to cook on. Oh, by the way, there is a type of oven built into the stove as well as a metal cooktop. I'm looking forward to some fresh home cooked tortillas the next time I'm in this village!

Be on the lookout for details about an upcoming adult trip to Honduras...details coming soon! Maybe you can have some tortillas too!!

--Tomas (my Spanish name ;-))