Fire it up!

The schedule with RUFA this week had me attending a 4 day mud stove training session in Mhuju with Chiza, another project coordinator of RUFA. The first day of the session was mainly practical and focused on establishing what the women expected from their stoves and the different methods of cooking that are well established in the area and the pros and cons of each. The second day focused on the practical exercise of making the clay to make the stoves as it would take a few days for it to set after mixing it. The third day was theoretically focused around how fire burns, the mechanics of combustion and the most efficient way to cook, and an overview of why these mud stoves are so beneficial. The fourth and final day involved the actual creation of one of the stoves, and the initiation of the women’s committee that would function as future stove promoters in this area. The women were high spirited, and sang songs and danced as they worked, and were very warm and kind to me.

It’s an interesting initiative being run with different variations of locally appropriate stoves in many developing countries, so it was great to see how the process works on the ground. There are many benefits involved with using these mud stoves instead of the more traditional three stone fire pit, including health benefits, and more efficient cooking, requiring less firewood. That sounds like such a simple statement, but the implications are so large. Deforestation is becoming more of an issue throughout Malawi, with detrimental effects on the entire climate and as a result on crop yields – and as agriculture is not only the main way most families feed themselves, it is also their main source of income, the ramifications could be huge. The more direct impact of course is that the women who collect the firewood are having to walk further and further to get this supply, eating up a large chunk of time, as well as being back breaking work, or should I say neck breaking as they carry the huge stacks on their heads… again a feat that never ceases to amaze me. So at the very least this program will allow the women to make those trips less often. At the same time RUFA has other initiatives to combat these issues including encouraging households to have their own woodlots with trees that need pruning regularly to provide a ready source of this firewood. The stove program is something I’d like to delve into a little bit deeper this upcoming year in one of our Chapter meetings at the University, and as the meetings are open to all, make sure you ask me about it if you’re interested to find out more when I get back.

All in all I couldn’t be happier to be working with people who are not only tackling the challenges contributing to poverty but the environmental degradation that is so closely linked with these issues. It’s certainly a personal wake up call to realize how much our personal well being really is tied the well being of our habitat. In Canada I find we’re distanced from any direct impacts enough to ignore the subtle warning signs, but here it can smack you in the face if you’re not careful. Things to think about to be sure….and boy do I do a lot of thinking these days. Thanks for all your comments, and emails, its awesome to hear from you. Big hugs and high 5’s ~m