StoveTeam Blog

On Friday, March 23rd our very good friends, Yoli and Victor Del Rio, hosted, in their lovely home, a traditional Mexican comida featuring Enchaladas Rojas together with all the trimmings. And the stars of the event were two of the healthful, efficient, practical and ever versatile Ecocina Stoves! Over 50 guests were in attendance and $12,000 pesos was raised to assist with the purchase of an Ecocina Stove for each of the elderly folks served by Antonette & Joe Lim of So Others May Eat, a project that they have been selflessly running in San Miguel for over 23 years. Thank you to the many who made donations toward the cause and to those that attended the event. Thank you to the lovely ladies who cooked the delicious meal and to our good friends who volunteered as servers. And a very special thank you to Yoli and Victor who worked tirelessly and with great enthusiasm to make this event possible.

-Sharon Doherty

A very special thank you to John and Sharon Doherty, who tirelessly work as volunteers to promote clean cookstoves in the San Miguel de Allende area. 

Every group of StoveTeam volunteers helps at a factory or helps in the local community. On this trip we were asked to help by painting a new preschool in the community of La Cieneguita near our new factory.

La Cieneguita was very anxious to have a school for their children located closer to home. However, the community is located outside of San Miguel de Allende, and there is no governmental support for a school building. Thus, the community gathered together and built the school themselves.

Then they had to find a teacher. Again, as they are located outside of San Miguel de Allende near the town of Cieniguitas, there was no government funding for a teacher's salary. The community again found a solution.

They found a local community organization to pay for the teacher's salary. Since the salary is meager, the teacher comes on Monday and stays with a different family each night to save on transportation costs. Collectively the community is paying her lodging and meals to show their support for their childrens' education. This has been working well, and recently they decided to build a preschool.

Each day for about a week, volunteers will visit El Tigre to conduct Kitchen Performance Tests in each home to track fuel usage. At the end of the week each family will receive an Ecocina stove; the trip will culminate with a celebration at the school jointly hosted by the community of El Tigre, StoveTeam, and the Rotary Club of San Miguel-Midday. StoveTeam will return later in the year to conduct a second round of Kitchen Performance Tests and find out how the Ecocina is impacting families in El Tigre. 

We're looking forward to visiting El Tigre and meeting these families. Thank you for all of your hard work, John!

Our March 2012 trip to San Miguel de Allende has filled up quickly! We are very excited about the great group of volunteers going on this trip. We plan to offer more trips to San Miguel de Allende in the future--stay tuned! 

If you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please email elly@stoveteam.org.

Give yourself a special gift this Christmas…the opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico, meet fellow Rotarians and work together on a StoveTeam project. This is your chance to see firsthand how Ecocina stoves are changing lives in Mexico. See the details on the Events page.

During the spring of 2010 members of Club Rotario de Medio Dia in San Miguel de Allende began to research the need to assist families in surrounding rural communities with an alternative to open fire cooking. It was very apparent that there were substantial respiratory problems and burn risks for the families from this form of cooking as well as serious ongoing ecological concerns relating to the deforestation issue in obtaining the necessary fuel for the open fires. 

Well the response was very positive. It was clear that an economical alternative, such as a small stove, was certainly much needed and desired. 

One of our Rotary Club members determined through other Rotary Club websites that a very fine organization called Stove Team International based in Oregon, USA had been working with many North American Rotary Clubs in introducing the Ecocina Stove, designed by them, throughout various Latin American countries. After communicating with several Rotary Clubs involved with stove projects and researching the stove, we contacted Stove Team International to begin working to bring the Ecocina Stove to Mexico. 

So, from determining a need and with great desire to help we were on our way! 

Stove Team International recommended using a tried and true “factory model” to ensure that good quality stoves were produced in San Miguel at a fair price. They determined in other countries that a successful small stove building business was essential to ensure sustainability and continued production of stoves. This entailed locating a qualified metal worker and assisting him in setting up a stove factory to build and distribute stoves. Our Rotary Club was very fortunate to have worked closely on many cistern projects with Senor Eric Ramirez and were delighted when he agreed to work with Rotary on the Ecocina Stove project. 

Eric and his family operate a small Taller which does good metal work and his location was ideal for obtaining the necessary materials and supplies for stove making and for distribution of the stoves. Since June of this year we have been working closely with Eric in setting up his new factory. His workshop was extended, specialised equipment was purchased, materials were acquired and training of Eric and his employees was completed with the help of Stove Team International. 

Eric and his team became very comfortable with the stove building and so it was time to demonstrate the stoves to the families in surrounding communities. At this time we have held several community demonstrations attended on each occasion by some 45 people. The demonstrations are led by a fine young man, Saul Juarez, who has a passion for serving rural communities. The Ecocina Stoves have been very well received and the price we established, of Pesos$500, has been readily accepted. 

To this point in time the factory has made and sold 50 Ecocina Stoves with many additional orders on hand. Very fine indeed considering Eric and his team have been operating for just about 60 days. 

So the Ecocina Stove is in Mexico, with the first stove factory in Mexico being established here in San Miguel de Allende. Our Rotary Club will work together with Eric and his family over the next 9-12 months. Following which Eric will have in place a fine small stove producing business providing a much needed economical product. He will have created employment for several employees and likely will have changed the future for his family. 

Most importantly with Stove Team International’s guidance and Rotary’s assistance he will have provided Ecocina Stoves to thousands of families in rural communities. 

This truly is just the beginning for these great little stoves in Mexico. We have had enquiries and orders from many cities throughout Mexico, including Guadalajara, Veracruz, Colima, and Oaxaca. 

We will continue to help Eric develop his business over the months ahead and will post information and other photographs from time to time.

-John Doherty, Member Club Rotario de Medio Dia, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

The factory in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico kicked off with demonstrations at a local fair. Factory owner, Eric, and outreach worker, Saul, along with local Rotarians demonstrated the stove, answered questions, and took orders from people who wished to purchase stoves.

Saul and the booth

Cooking tortillas on the Ecocina

Saul answering questions

Saul cooking on the Ecocina

Gustavo Peña departed El Salvador last Wednesday, June 15 for San Miguel de Allende, Mexico to help our partners there set up StoveTeam's latest Ecocina factory. The San Miguel de Allende Rotary Club along with local factory operators, Saul and Eric, have been working extra hard ever since Gustavo arrived to learn to make quality Ecocinas as well as set up an efficient factory.

See photos of the progress on our Mexico Page.

Later this week Gustavo will be traveling to Oaxaca, Mexico to demonstrate Ecocina stoves to interested Rotary clubs and others in order to begin the process for starting a factory in that region.