In 2010, Peter Schmidtke from Rotary Magazine interviewed Gustavo Peña, the owner of StoveTeam’s partner factory in El Salvador, Inversiones Falcón. This week, Gustavo’s youngest son Emerson graduated from university with a degree in Psychology so we felt it would be appropriate to republish the interview and highlight some of our favorite parts!
Rosa Linda, Emerson, and Gustavo Peña celebrate Emerson’s graduation from university, February 2020.
Gustavo Peña's Interview with Rotary Magazine
Peter Schmidtke: What did you do for work before getting involved in the production of Ecocina cookstoves?
Gustavo Peña [translated from Spanish]: When I finished high school, I was persecuted by death squads, at that time I worked to understand and ensure others understood our rights as students, and since I was born near a rural community I was involved in a movement that was called ACTION at that time. As a Catholic, our job was to bring help to the most needy, but anyone involved in humanitarian aid was accused of being a communist. For fear of being eliminated just like many of my friends and teachers, my mother gave me money to travel to Los Angeles, California illegally. I worked on Main St. and 1st St. in downtown Los Angeles, assembling industrial sewing machines for about a year and a half, and then I worked for six months as a messenger for a printing press. I delivered classified documents to a company called Bechtel Corporation - at that time they were designing a ferry.
I was eventually deported back to El Salvador. When I returned I found many of my friends had been taken by death squads, and I was still in danger. I only stayed 3 months and I went to Montreal, Canada where I lived and worked for a year in a factory making plastic products; spoons, knives, forks and computer cases. Montreal is very cold so I decided to travel to Vancouver, where I worked in agriculture, driving a tractor to prepare the land in a place called Richmond. I found a new job in Vancouver with a company that repaired phones for BC Tel.
I returned to El Salvador in 1980, and was married in 1981. I have 3 children; the oldest is a dentist, the second lives in North Carolina, USA, and the third will begin university to study Architecture. [Note: As of February, 2020, Gustavo’s son Emerson just graduated from college].
PS: How did you meet Larry Winiarski and start your partnership with StoveTeam International? When did the factory open?
GP: My first job when I returned from Canada was as a motorcycle salesman in 1982. After that I worked as a supervisor of the Diana company, a Salvadoran company that sells packaged junk food like nachos and potato chips. One day I found a gringo who didn't speak very much Spanish and I approached him to help him (I always do it) and he offered me work as a translator. He was dedicated to the export of exotic animals from Central America to Miami, but after 3 years he was suspended and I lost my job. I began making small plaques for the army, which I took as an opportunity to end my problems with the army. Through them I got a visa for the United States, so when I was finished I dedicated myself to travel to Houston, Texas to buy used vehicles. I brought them to El Salvador and sold them with a regular profit that helped me support my home. I left this job when a Colombian offered me work that consisted of bringing money hidden in cars going to Nicaragua, money from drug trafficking. They began to pressure me a lot and I decided to stop going to Houston. My children were small and these people do not forgive; I prefer to be free and hardworking than a person with money living outside the law.
I decided to start a pizza business in 1992, and in 2000 I met a man named Octavio Durán through a childhood friend. My closest cousins, Luis Alonzo and Reinaldo, also introduced me to a gringo named Sean Aehearn. Sean and Octavio had founded an NGO called Project Lighthouse to provide aid to the neediest communities in El Salvador, and Sean offered me work collaborating with his projects in El Salvador. We built a clinic in a community near my town of Santa Cruz, and Sean began to send used medical equipment for different clinics in El Salvador. Today the clinic is managed by AGAPE Founded by Father Flavian Muchi, a Franciscan priest who arrived from Boston many years ago, working with Project Lighthouse.
I met a man named Avi Davis and we decided to start a solar energy project. In late 2006 we decided to launch in Suchitoto, a picturesque village north of San Salvador and one of the towns hardest hit by the war. We were looking for someone to teach us how to build an efficient kitchen, which led us to contact the Networks organization in San Salvador. We collaborated with Networks on an initial project to build 30 kitchens, but we received complaints from families and a follow-up study found that our kitchens did not provide much improvement over a traditional kitchen. Avi went to the United States to seek professional help for the purpose of improving stoves that were already built in Suchitoto and continue to improve our stove models. Avi knew Larry Winiarski and convinced him to come to El Salvador to share his knowledge and help with our project to bring stoves to more families who use wood as cooking fuel.
Larry arrived in El Salvador in early 2008, and we immediately knew we could work together. In a conversation a few days before Larry returned to the United States he began talking about a lady who might be interested in starting a new project, and said,
“Gustavo, there is a lady in Oregon who has experience with kitchens in Guatemala, I’ll tell her that you have a good attitude and like to work. Maybe she will want to work with you. I do not promise anything but we'll see what happens…”
Days passed and Larry wrote to me once in a while and told me he had already started talking to Nancy. In the middle of that year, Larry came to Nicaragua for an environmental conference and invited me. He had convinced Stuart Conway of Trees Water People to give me a scholarship to attend this conference, and I remember that we traveled by my old Jeep Cherokee and when we were 4 hours from Managua, we broke the radiator near the city of Chinandega. We reached the conference on the next day at about four o'clock and I had the pleasure to meet Stuart. I will be forever grateful to him for the opportunity to engage in the improved stoves program in this conference. I also had the opportunity to meet Brenda Dorowski who came on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
We had another mechanical problem, broke the transmission, but had to leave. A young Christopher St. Lawrence, without a word, helped us with the problem, and the next day we traveled by bus to El Salvador, and returned to my old Cherokee a week later.
My surprise came when Larry told me,
“Gustavo, Nancy wants to help with a small pilot so I'll stay with you for a few days and see what we can do.”
Larry began purchasing materials and assembling tools that he had brought from the States United. We made a short list of materials and started working on the development of the first Ecocina. Our workshop was only three meters long and two meters wide (about 54 square feet). After three days Larry asked me to bring on one more person to help us. We brought on Savior, who has been with us since that.
It took time but Larry began making some drawings and mathematical equations, shaping the Ecocina. Whenever we needed some money, Nancy was our guardian angel protecting us and giving us strength to continue with the design. After almost 3 weeks the Ecocina first saw the light and has since evolved from metal to ferrocement. Nancy was so excited by the project that in November 2007 she decided to come to El Salvador and meet me personally.
Since that time Nancy, and all members of StoveTeam International, have been the pillar that sustained the dream to continue helping all families using fuelwood for cooking. I don’t believe that Nancy, nor I, nor the volunteers who first visited El Salvador [to help build the first factory], could imagine that we would reach this far.
And as Larry said one day, “these are not coincidences Gustavo, this is what happened through the work of Larry, Nancy and Gustavo.”
We stopped producing the metal Ecocina because the value of metal was not stable, and Don and I began designing a mold for the ferrocement Ecocina that we are currently producing. Nancy and a group of volunteers gave me the biggest boost in February 2008 when they helped me build a roof and walls of more than 25 meters long and three meters high for my factory. I’m thankful that I had the honor of making great memories with these volunteers.
To engineer the model currently manufactured and distributed in Central America I collaborated directly with Don Steely. Don worked for months looking for the best way to produce the Ecocina on a larger scale. After several months of trial and error I managed something even Don thought could not be achieved. With help and ideas from different sources, and especially Don, we managed to design a uniform pattern to construct the ferrocement stove from a single high-strength piece. I really thank Don for his drive - without it, it wouldn’t be possible to have what we have today.
PS: What is your job in your Ecocina factory?
GP: I am the director: I direct the production in collaboration with Salvador Nery. My wife Luisa Rosa Elvira handles the administrative side. My son’s girlfriend handles our promotions and public relations. I establish contacts with organizations, communities and even government people, although the latter is more difficult to work. They possibly still are not aware of climate change, and although stoves are not the only solution, they do help greatly to improve health and avoid deforestation.
But I also like to explore ideas and knowledge that I gained with Larry and Don, and this time I have my own designs: A stove which is very useful in schools, a two-burner small laptop stove for people who like outdoor life, and finally we are producing a furnace with the help of Ken Goyer, a friend of Nancy and Larry. Ken has an NGO called African Aid and he is doing great humanitarian work in Kenya which I hope will continue.
PS: Nancy mentioned to me that you’d like to help others start their own factories to produce Ecocina cookstoves. What kind of help would you give to someone who wants to start their own factory?
GP: Helping people or institutions that want to start producing Ecocinas is one of my priorities. I feel morally committed to StoveTeam because of what they have done for me here in El Salvador. For this reason, I want to help others to establish their businesses. The most important help we offer is to invite interested parties to visit our factory. We give them accommodations and train them for a week or however long they need to learn how to start their own business.
So far I have travelled to Choluteca in Honduras to help with a project, and the second project of Nancy and StoveTeam has already begun in Guatemala. It is being run by Marco Tulio Guerra, a man Nancy already knew from a previous project. The difficulty of these projects almost discouraged Nancy from continuing to work with stoves, but thank God Larry and I managed to convince her to continue, and today we are all very happy to have continued. Marco Tulio’s factory is near a picturesque town called Antigua, Guatemala. StoveTeam was helping him build his factory in November last year [2009] and seems to have planned another visit in mid-February this year.
When I help someone begin producing Ecocinas, after the training phase in the workshop I go to their country and collaborate with them. I think this is the part that I personally like more, because interacting with people has been my hobby since my youth and being with people passing on what I know is what I like best.
PS: How many factories have been established thanks to your help?
GP: So far there are three factories which are producing Ecocinas. Guatemala, Honduras, and Leon in Nicaragua. StoveTeam has been contacted by people in Belize, Mexico and even countries in South America who are interested in building Ecocinas.
PS: How many people currently work in your factory?
GP: The number now is 12 (10 in production and 2 in admin).
PS: Have you seen firsthand how the factories have improved the quality of life in El Salvador?
GP: Creating jobs and becoming self-sustaining has been a priority since the start of StoveTeam. For example, I have an employee who can not even read or write. Will lost an eye as a boy, Guadeloupe can barely read.
If Nancy and StoveTeam had not provided help to set up this factory these people would be unemployed - their lack of knowledge does not allow them to get decent and dignified work.
We are all very grateful, because it has changed all of our lives. Personally, it has helped me better prepare my eldest son Gustavo, who now can pay to attend a university in Guatemala to specialize in orthodontics. Before Nancy and StoveTeam came along, I had no hope that my son could become a professional. More than this, Nancy and friends have helped my son and my family by sending medical equipment! This has changed our lives and we are all eternally grateful.
PS: Do you know anyone with an Ecocina in their kitchen? Have you sent your Ecocinas outside El Salvador?
GP: There was recently coverage on national TV of a woman with a child with asthma whose lives were changed by the donation of an Ecocina cookstove. You can see the coverage on Youtube too.
In August of 2008, I was invited to Mexico by an NGO to participate in a conference on the environment. I put an Ecocina in my luggage and everyone was surprised. Since that date I have been trying to sell the Ecocina in Mexico. Last year I received an order for 3,000 Ecocinas and in January this year we sent the first 500. We hope to send at least one container every month.
PS: Is there anything else you'd like to say about your factory or StoveTeam International.
GP: The Ecocina is probably not the best in the world, but what I can guarantee is that it will fulfill your expectations in performance and functionality. Among the most important features are: It’s portable (some families use them to work outside their homes for the purposes of selling local dishes), it has low fuel consumption (50% compared with traditional cooking), and it eliminates smoke.
Regarding my relationship with StoveTeam, especially my friendship with Nancy, Gerry, Don, Susy and Gail, it will forever be in my heart. I never tire of expressing my gratitude and not just what they do for me but for all who work in my factory, and for everyone who receives an Ecocina cookstove. I also thank Rotary International as they have been one of the strongest supporters to help pull through.
Despite the effort we all do to promote and distribute the Ecocina in rural areas, the most important supporter for us has been the Peace Corps. I believe that 50% of the success of this program is due to the hard work of these young people. I recall that early in 2008, a young volunteer came to us with the intention of studying the Ecocina. Martin was his name, a young gringo with a big heart. He not only helped us find more volunteers but he became our official spokesperson within the structure of the Peace Corps. Martin structured such a good relationship that the Ecocina has become part of the training program for the Peace Corps here in El Salvador. We do at least eight shows per month, and they are the direct responsibility of delivering over 80% of Ecocinas to the neediest communities. Their volunteers are so convinced of the effectiveness of the Ecocina, that they have been requesting funds from other organizations in the United States to help to finance some projects in other communities. We give them our thanks as well.