Globally, nearly three billion people use polluting, inefficient stoves or open flames to cook their food. Exposure to cooking fire smoke kills approximately two million people worldwide every year.
In Guatemala, as in many other countries, breathing in the toxic fumes while preparing tortillas and frijoles puts Mayan women and children at risk for respiratory illnesses, blindness and burns on a daily basis. It is estimated that 77% of Guatemalan families use wood as their main fuel source. 2% of Guatemala’s forests are lost annually, mainly due to the need for fuel for cooking fires. Precious family resources and time are spent on gathering or purchasing wood.
The Guatemala Stove Project (GSP) helps alleviate these problems by building vented stoves that are adapted to Mayan cooking methods. These stoves are made of cement blocks on the outside and fire-bricks inside, filled with sand and pumice for insulation and held together by mortar. The design of the firebox can reduce wood consumption and pollution by about 50%. The ‘plancha’ or stove-top is made of shiny, bright steel. The crowning glory of this kitchen appliance is the galvanized chimney pipe that takes the poisonous smoke out of the house. It is an ‘improved cooking stove’ and while most of us would find it rudimentary, Mayan women much prefer it to cooking on the floor over an open fire.
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Annual General Meeting today at 1:00pm, McMartin House, 125 Gore St. E., Perth - all are welcome!
I had the pleasure of meeting Tom Clarke at Hans Sinn's house near Perth, Ontario today and learned more about the Guatemala Stove Project - Canada that he founded in 1999!
It was also interesting to learn that Tom had been a volunteer with the PBI - Guatemala Project in the mid-1980s!
This Guatemala Stove Project is a great expression of practical solidarity and if you can support it, please do! The Project highlights:
Hundreds of thousands of indigenous Maya in Guatemala continue to cook indoors over wood burning fires. The smoke created from these cooking fires is toxic and contributes to a wide range of chronic illnesses and health impacts such as; early childhood pneumonia, emphysema, lung cancer, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease and low birth weight.
The Guatemala Stove Project helps alleviate these problems by building improved masonry cookstoves that are adapted to Mayan cooking methods. A GSP stove uses 50 per cent less wood than the traditional 3-stone fire, thereby saving precious trees and reducing carbon emissions. The crowning glory of this kitchen appliance is the chimney pipe that takes the toxic smoke out of the house.
To make a donation to the Guatemala Stove Project - Canada, please go to guatemalastoveproject.org/donate/
I plan to write more about this, so please look for an article that looks at this more deeply on rabble.ca in the coming days.
You should try this chicken, it is outstanding!We are starting to get that freezer filled up again! This is Pollo en Jocon, a Guatemalan chicken dish served over Spanish rice. $30 serves 4 with 1/2 of each meal sold going to the Guatemala Stove Project. #guatemalanfood #picnicperth #dinnerisserved #letusdothecooking