How to Build a
"Green" Stove
with a Machete...
Nicaragua is over
70% deforested and one
contributing factor is that the majority of the
population
still
cook over wood fires...
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A traditional way of cooking.
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An average family burns an entire small tree in less than two weeks. That times 1,500,000 or so families in Nicaragua, equals a LOT of trees. Nicaragua's response has been to outlaw cutting down trees, so now poor families have to buy the wood for their fires.
It's become an environmental AND an economical crisis!
Several JustHope Partners are building "green" (ecological) stoves in La Flor and Chacraseca to help reduce both the expense of cooking and the deforestation its causing.
AND these "Green" Stoves are also proviing help in several other ways...
- The chimney channels the smoke outside instead of filling up the cooking area, reducing asthma and other respiratory problems.
- The internal insulation keeps the outside of the stove from getting hot, so fewer children and women are getting burned.
- Families are using less of their limited incomes to buy wood (these stoves reduce wood use by over 70%) which means more food on the table
Green stoves cost $450 each to build. They save that in wood fuel costs in just 18 months. To date 25 of the 87 families in La Flor and about 200 of the 1700 families in Chacraseca have one of these life-changing stoves! Our goal for 2017 is at least 20 more!
Here are some JustHope Partners from Phoenix, AZ showing you the steps to build a "Green" Stove in La Flor! The process is slightly different in Chacraseca, but the results are the same!
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Partners helping build a "green" stove. |
The last step is adding the tin roof over the new kitchen, but first the chimney hole needs to be cut into the tin. Watch it happen with every Nicaraguan farmer's favorite tool for every job -
a machete!
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Building a "Green" Stove with a Machete! |
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