Stove project and Panama Verde

As I wrote last February, I have been working on re-forming the Panama Verde youth group that I was ready to leave in tatters at the end of last year. I am glad I didn´t because I see that the group means something to the few young people who are involved and have been pleased by the dedication and motivation of two new members. In Febraury and March we held bake sales to raise money to help support a stove project.

PCV Michelle recently alerted us about a new model of stove, called the Bliss Burner, invented in part by Steve Bliss, a humanitarian worker based in Panama. This stove is a simple design, and an improvement on the other model I´d been considering last year. The two are compared side-by-side at the Deadwheat Foundation´s blog.

The prefered means of cooking in my community is on a three-rock stove, which basically amounts to a camp fire, which is often in someone´s kitchen, in their home. It releases incredible amounts of smoke, I usually can´t stand to be near one, and makes preparing a meal hellishly hot for the cook. The Bliss Burner burns more efficiently, releases very little smoke, and requires a lot less firewood. Its benefits are two-fold-- reducing deforestation and improving air quality, and thereby health.

I met Steve recently and wanted to get a stove built in my site and see how my Panama Verde group felt about taking this on as a project. Steve´s wife Jennifer came by this week and build a model stove at my neighbors house. It involves a 2:1 mix of clay, sand, and 1/3 bag cement. The mix is put in a mold, left for five hours, and the finished stove is ready to pop out.

It occured to me before the team got there, I didn´t have a screen to sift out the rocks. That´s okay, that is what sassy five-year-olds are for! She went at this for well over an hour before politely asking me to inspect her work. Shortly after, the team arrived with a sifter. Sorry Rosibel!

I rushed over to their house early this morning to snap a photo of the finished product, hence the grumpy faces. Julio is going to make a new surface for the stove to sit on
People have responded very positively already to the idea of these stoves. Several people came by yesterday to watch us make it. The cost to make one is very low and the benefits high. The youth group and I plan to continue make them on a house-by-house basis, charging for materials and an extra dollar or two to fundraise for a future group trip or activity.