StoveTeam Blog

Things here have been really, really hectic, but quite productive.

We arrived a day after Gustavo and a few days after my neighbor, Stephanie Wood, who is operating a six week educational institute for teachers. We have all been staying in the same hotel, so it's really been fun. Stephanie helped connect us with her assistant whose name is Bertha. Bertha is AMAZING! Before we arrived she helped Gustavo find wood, a cook, masa, etc., etc. as well as commandeering the hotel staff to help Gustavo repair the one stove that was broken. It looked as if the people who transported it dropped in soundly on the side cracking not only the bottom of the stove, the base of the rim, but the entire inside. After Bertha found a kilo of cement, tiles and pumice, Alfredo from the hotel helped Gustavo do the repair.

Our new favorite cook did two demonstrations in two days and although they were not heavily attended, but they were attended by those who counted. Lorena Harp from the Harp Foundation spent a good two hours there and made the arrangements with the organic market for our presence. The local cooks at the market were impressed with the stove, and various people stopped by who were very curious and wanted to buy stoves right away. One man told us we were starting the next Mexican revolution by bringing the Ecocina to this area of such great need. The Rotarians from the Bicentenario club came in two batches. They are definitely on-board with the project and even showed us the future factory site. The paperwork for two grants is now signed so we will be on our way.

We had a major problem as Gustavo as developed a severe pain in his chest, so Gerry had to take him first to the pharmacy and then to the hospital. We ended up having to buy him an expensive ticket just to return to San Salvador so he wouldn't have to take the bus from Tapachula which would have been a five hour bus ride.

Making arrangements took FOREVER (of course, AeroMexico is closed on Sundays....and you can't buy a ticket or make any arrangements at the airport!), but after everything was done, we took the bus 2 1/2 hours to Tlaxiaco with Bertha. We hadn't heard from Roberto, but we decided to chance it and just tell him we were coming. He met us at the Suburban (actually, we took a van - they call all vans Suburban's here), and we had intense financial meetings from the time we arrived until 10pm. We overnighted in the local hotel, met again for breakfast, and continued working until about 1pm yesterday. We saw four potential factory sites, met with a local welder, talked to two young potential factory workers, met the President of the Municipality of Tlaxiaco, and Roberto's family.

Bertha and Roberto had discussions about salaries and he agreed to hire her. She is extremely competent and wants the job, and she will be able to keep things in order while he makes all of the connections for selling stoves. He plans to hire his father, whom everyone says is great, to run the factory.

So, to end this, we returned with Bertha whom we like a lot. Stephanie, Bob, Ron Spores and I went to lunch (3:30 is lunch time here), and Gerry collapsed in his room. Gerry recovered a bit later and we all met again in Stephanie and Bob's room for guacamole and chips.

Life is good!

Nancy

Yesterday was incredibly productive and it started with a good breakfast of eggs and beans in Gustavo Peña's (El Salvador factory owner) room and was quickly followed by the arrival of Irma and the crew who Stephanie Wood (a professor from the University of Oregon) had arranged to help us with the demonstration at the organic market in Xochimilco. Irma arrived with two kilos of masa, a table for the stove, and a load of wood. Gustavo and Stephanie had arranged everything and they had even introduced Irma to the stove the day before. Evidently the entire hotel staff helped as the stove was set up in the parking lot. Irma immediately loved it and it didn't take much to convince her that this was a great invention.

When we arrived in Xochimilco, Irma immediately set to work starting the fire, drying the extra wood on top of the stove, and handing out brochures. It was some time before the invitees arrived, but when they did they found that there were people in the market willing and anxious to buy a stove.

By the end of the day we had signed two accords with the Rotary in Oaxaca to sponsor a factory in Huayapan (about 20 minutes outside of Oaxaca) and another in Tlaxiaco, about two and a half hours away. Roberto and Justino who will direct the factory in Tlaxiaco were delighted to find a sponsoring Rotary. Rosie, the president of the club, took us to Huayapan to see the factory site there, and as I had seen the site in Tlaxiaco on the last trip it just all seemed so easy.

Today there is another demonstration in the park, and in the next few days we'll do more research on factory materials and go to Tlaxiaco and the surrounding villages. Roberto and Justino have done quite a bit of research, talked to local government officials, and they have investigated the possibility of matching funds for stove purchases.

All is well, the wether is beautiful, and we're having a great time in Oaxaca!

Nancy

Project in Oaxaca a Go!

After almost two weeks of late-night meetings with little food, Nancy will return to Oregon tomorrow with a secured group, Rotary club, and factory site, for a stove factory in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico. Here's how she describes the last few days on the road:

It's been a busy week for us and we have given presentations to two Rotary clubs, a group of people from Tlaxiaco, a few local politicians and businessmen and women, and today we finished it off by talking to both the representative from the Grameen Bank and the Oaxaca Lending Library. Tomorrow, after a nice luncheon with friends, we are meeting with Lorena Harp of the Harp Foundation. The trip has been fascinating as we learn the ins and outs of Mexican culture. We have adjusted to the differences in foods in the various countries in Central America having learned about pupusas in El Salvador and carne asada in Nicaragua. The stove griddles or planchas for cooking tortillas have to be large enough here to cook tlayudas which are like enormous crisp tortillas filled with black bean paste and cheese. They are folded in half and sold near the open markets. We have also learned the names of stove materials, again different from Central America. There we talk about "baldosa" tile for the combustion chamber, but here in Mexico it's called "media tabla". "Cocinas" (literally translated as "kitchens") are here known as "estufas" or stoves.

You may wonder if it's safe to be here in Mexico, and we can tell you that we're still able to stroll around the central area of Oaxaca in the cool of the evening and what we see are families with the children playing together, lovers stealing a few kisses, and almost no tourists. This is the hot time of year that many people leave town, but as we're delighted to see the sun, we're enjoying everything enormously.

Nancy

Greetings from Mexico!

Jinny Ralls and I are here in lovely Oaxaca to see if there is interest in establishing a new factory to produce Ecocina stoves in this region of Mexico.  When we arrived, we were immediately met by Bricia, a Rotarian who was previously trained by Larry Winiarski, the inventor of the rocket elbow for stoves for the developing world.  Bricia is a former Rotary exchange student and is currently working with a Rotary grant from Fresno, California to introduce both solar stoves, rocket stoves and "hayboxes".  All of this is known as the "integrated cooking method" and has been promoted by Wilfred Pimentel of  Fresno Rotary for years.  Bricia knows people in all four Rotary clubs in Oaxaca and has promised to set up a meeting for all of us so we can present the idea of an Ecocina factory to everyone and see which Rotary might be interested in the project.

Yesterday we also met with Kevin Adler who is an Ambassadorial Rotary Scholar here in Oaxaca, and we were very lucky that he brought his friend Elizabeth who works with En Via, a women's program that does micro-finance for women who wish to start businesses.  Kevin and Elizabeth have been busy connecting us with both En Via and the women's Rotary Club here in Oaxaca, and we will give a presentation to that Rotary on Wednesday evening at 8pm.

While Kevin, Elizabeth and Bricia are busy connecting us with the groups that might be interested in supporting a stove project, Jinny and I have done a bit of exploring outside of Oaxaca.  We went to a paper-making factory in Etla, the pottery center in Aztompa and also to Teotitlan, the community that produces beautiful woven rugs.  After a delicious lunch in Teotitlan, we returned to the Zocalo in the center of Oaxaca where we received a call from Roberto Sanchez, the director of the Cultural Center in Tlaxiaco, who is interested in possibly starting a factory in the Mixteca area.  He's due here in about 15 minutes, so time is short, but we're accomplishing a lot and having a great time exploring Oaxaca and environs.

More soon!
Nancy