StoveTeam Blog

When I attended University of Oregon, spring break was, for me, simply a chance to briefly unwind from a stressful winter term (which usually meant catching up on sleep and then taking off for a couple of days to go skiing). Now UO students have a special opportunity to have a fun AND meaningful spring break through the UO's Alternative Break Program with the Holden Leadership Center.  Through these service learning trips students travel to exciting places (Jamaica! Honduras! Dominican Republic!) and do great work, too. 

This year, StoveTeam is privileged to be a part of UO's Alternative Breaks program. In less than a month we're taking 20 undergraduates to Copan Ruinas, Honduras along with four UO educational partners and several StoveTeam volunteers. We'll spend a week doing kitchen performance tests, construction projects at the factory, and immersing ourselves in Honduran culture (and of course, practicing our Spanish). The students have been meeting weekly to prepare.

For the past two Sundays StoveTeam led a 'Stove Camp' to give students a chance to learn about fuel-efficient stoves by getting their hands dirty and actually making one. Led by volunteer (Advisory Board member) Bob Way, students made Ecocinas from start to finish, learning welding, cutting tiles, perfecting their wire-basket-sewing techniques, and making and pouring cement for the stove. We were fortunate to have Dr. Larry Winiarski, designer of the Ecocina, visit each time to teach the students the principles of fuel-efficient stoves. Nancy Hughes and I made hot apple cider, which we (of course) heated on the Ecocina.

You can see photos from Stove Camp on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/StoveTeam

We had a great time and were impressed by this motivated, smart group of students. We're looking forward to our trip with them in a little less than a month!

As you know, we are a TEAM, and I am just the face you see instead of the hundreds of volunteers, an extremely committed Board of Directors, and Sanya, our one employee. The award is theirs. 

We started helping local entrepreneurs to build stove factories four years ago by assisting Gustavo Peña who now owns his own factory in El Salvador, and who has not only produced thousands of fuel-efficient stoves but has employed 15 individuals, educated his children, and established local scholarships. 

I returned two weeks ago from Honduras where I worked with a new factory owner Anibal Murcia and the volunteers field-testing the Ecocina stove. 

On the morning of my departure, I received a call from Sanya who had already arrived. “Nancy” she said, “There are five in the village who have been hospitalized for tuberculosis. Should we still go?” 

The families in San Jose de las Lagrimas have lived where there has been NO water, and there are NO toilets and little work. In a squatters’ camp such as this, everyone is at risk for acute respiratory infection, and there are villages such as this one throughout the world. 

The first house I visited was ten by twelve. There were tree trunks at each of four corners, black plastic and old plastic bags for walls, and inside was a smoky open fire and a makeshift bed. Santiago had left the house at 3:30 am and returned four hours later after cutting and carrying home 77 pounds of firewood. He and Maria Louisa stayed in the home all day, and smoke filled the tiny room. Santiago had no energy left to work, and Maria Louisa was too ill to stand. The two of them lived that day on ten tortillas. 

This is the story of only one family in the village, but there were others - men, women, children, babies, living in smoke. 

Much of the world lives like this. There are mothers with babies on their backs, and the smoke from their cooking fires will kill both them and their children, while the surrounding forests become denuded. 

The problem is so preventable and the solution so inexpensive and so simple. 

Before we received the support from the Purpose Prize we helped local people start six factories in five countries in four years, reducing pollution and deforestation and improving the lives of over 90,000. None of us had any experience with factory work or stove building, and all of us were over 60 but we worked hard, and have made a significant difference.

 Now the recognition and money from The Purpose Prize will help us start more factories to give employment to local people to produce safe, inexpensive, fuel-efficient Ecocina stoves, both saving lives and reducing pollution, and protecting the forest. The demand is there, and the solution is simple. 

Thank you all for your help in making a difference.