Tracking clean cookstoves & fuel in Haiti

Dear friends and supporters,

"There is something stronger than death, it is the presence of the absent in the memory of the living."

Jeanne Betsock (Ginger) Stillman, co-founder of PPAF and this GlobalGiving project, passed away on August 28.  We announced this to all friends and donors, and the memorial service took place in Hastings-on-Hudson New York on October 13.  Her spirit lives on, not only in memories but action.

Ginger’s career spanned work in over twenty countries. A tireless advocate for global public health, justice, and women’s rights, she also brought this commitment to volunteer leadership in the United Nations Association of the USA and the PPAF. A generous and dynamic woman with a heart for service, she was loved and respected in every community she touched.

Among Ginger's many activities was supporting PPAF’s project to track clean cookstoves and fuel in Haiti, especially solar cooking, to reduce families' daily dependence on wood and charcoal.

PPAF colleagues in Hinche, Haiti have nearly completed building a site for making, storing, and selling solar cookers, and have recently named it the JBS Workshop in her honor. As part of this, they are putting on the wall the pair of framed photos you see above. We are deeply touched by this combination of love, sympathy, and vision for a brighter future.

In our previous GlobalGiving report (28), we were happy to give the results of a users’ survey of some 125 solar cookers in Hinche and Jacmel. While not a controlled study, comments from our colleagues showed customers were using the cookers frequently, and using one-third to one-half less wood, charcoal, and propane than before. They were cooking several kinds of foods, especially beans, a staple that otherwise takes a lot of fuel. 

They welcomed solar cooking to save money, give time for other things, protect health from smoke, and help reduce the cutting of trees.  “Negative” comments were that solar cookers should be more widely known and available, more sturdy, and if possible made in Haiti.

Our colleagues are addressing these issues. 

In Hinche, the construction of what is now named the JBS Workshop is nearly finished. It is solid and secure, with solar lighting inside and a good rooftop for cooking and demonstrations. Importation of the Haines and Hallquist models of solar cookers is currently impossible, owing to the terrible security situation in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere. 

But necessity is the mother of invention.  Our colleagues are experimenting with instructions from the internet and locally available materials including plywood, aluminum foil, styrofoam, sheet metal, etc. The first examples of solar cookers do not equal the efficiency of the Haines or Hallquist models, but they are good, as verified in controlled water-boiling tests.  Potential customers are beginning to gather, including the carpenters who have helped with construction.  

In Jacmel, our colleagues have been quite active with demonstrations, teaching, and preparation & serving of multiple pots of solar-cooked food.  These include rice, various vegetables and starches, and chicken or fish sauces.  Responding to invitations, our colleagues have conducted events at a multi-church conference, a Jacmel Youth Day celebration, and a Jacmel Rotaract two-day project of support for the unfortunate and invalids. Our lead colleague there has begun a role as senior adviser to the solar cooking classes at the Art Creation Foundation for Children (ACFFC), and he has led a survey of the results of previous PPAF distributions of solar cookers to ACFFC students.  

We want to acknowledge and thank our collaborators for their support in PPAF’s work.  We remain in contact with our friends at Haines Solar Cookers, LLC; Solar Oven Reflectors, LLC; Solar Education Project/GDS; Solar Cookers International; and others.  We are in regular contact with our dear colleagues in Hinche and Jacmel, and we look forward to eventual improvements from the current terrible situation in the country.

It is our donors and friends who make PPAF’s work possible.  Thank you very much.

Links:

• Website of PPAF

Report 28 – Solar cooking reduces the need for charcoal

Dear friends and supporters,

( Save the date – Bonus Day is July 10!  Separate information is coming. Please be generous! )

As I write to you, the new Interim Prime Minister, selected by the Transitional Presidential Council of Haiti, under the auspices of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), is welcoming the first members of the Kenyan-led specialized police units that are arriving in the United Nations-approved multinational security support mission.  This is designed to assist the Haitian government and police in restoring law and order from the gang violence and civil strife that has plagued the country, especially the capital city, for the past several years.  As readers know from previous reports, PPAF’s activities are in Hinche and Jacmel, some distance from Port-au-Prince, though the crisis has affected people far and wide.  We all hope for the best!

I’m happy to report PPAF’s latest news!  We and a talented technical colleague have created a Google Drive monitoring device for our three Haitian representatives to record interviews about the use of the solar cookers sold or donated through our project work.  They can use cell phones or computers and easily give the results to several questions. At this point, we have data from interviews with 55 people who bought Haines solar cookers in Hinche or Jacmel.  We also have information from cooks at four orphanages near Hinche.  Solar Oven Reflectors LLC and a friend donated about 70 solar cookers to these four.  They help to feed some 200 children.

The results so far are very positive.  The respondents are almost all female, with different numbers of household members, ages, and occupations, and their normal types of fuel vary.  Some have used only wood, some charcoal and wood, and some propane and charcoal.  Even the bags of charcoal come in different sizes.  This is not a controlled survey. But out of all this, several points are quite clear. 

The people like solar cooking.  They are using the solar cookers frequently. They cook several kinds of foods, among these especially beans, a staple that takes a lot of charcoal or wood to cook.  They welcome solar cooking to save money, give time for other things, protect health from smoke, and help reduce the cutting of trees.  Notably, they are using much less other fuel, especially wood in the rural areas and charcoal in town.

The negatives, if you can call them that, include comments that more people should have solar cookers, the cookers could be more sturdy, larger sizes could serve more people at a time, and it would be great to make solar cookers in Haiti.

It is a pleasure to read their comments.  Here are a few, with names of respondents deleted --   

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From Aline  

… said she always used to use charcoal and a pan to make bread for the Lord’s supper at church every 1st Sunday of the month. Thanks to the solar stove she no longer uses charcoal to make bread, it is well cooked and does not burn, and ashes fire does not fall in it. (This is for a church with 500 members.)

… said she used to buy 1 bag of charcoal monthly and 1 tank of propane gas.  Now she only uses gas because the solar stove cooks beans instead of charcoal.

… said he used to look for a lot of wood to cook and he used to buy 2 bags of charcoal per month. Now with the solar cooker, he looks for less wood and buys 1 and a half bags of charcoal for the month.

… is a blind man who says his wife has always had a lot of problems to find wood to cook, but she is looking for less wood because the stove helps her boil beans quickly.

… used to use 1 large bag of charcoal per month and propane fuel for cooking. Since she uses a solar cooker she only uses the propane and 2 small plastic bags of charcoal.

… has 6 people in her house. She uses only charcoal. She would always buy 2 bags of charcoal per month but with the solar cooker she buys one.

… said the solar cooker helps the family.  It’s simple.  My children can install it and cook by themselves.  It helps them to look for less wood.

From Elie

… orphanage uses 15 donated single solar dome cookers, double solar domes and now they're using some from another donor. The kitchen manager said they used to rely on charcoal and firewood. Before the solar ovens, they had enough wood for a week. Today, with the solar ovens, the same amount of wood now lasts two weeks. She says they used to use two bags of charcoal a week before they started using the solar ovens, but this has been reduced to one bag a week.  She is delighted that the solar ovens help them cut costs but also reduce the amount of trees they cut down in their community. Because they cook for so many children, the solar cooker pots are too small.  She hopes one day they can have ovens that can take large pots like the Haitian ones that hold food for more than 40 children at one go.

… at another orphanage cooks and teachers say they'd like to have their own solar cookers in their homes. They use the donated ones at the orphanage, but they want their own, so they can cook with their families. At home, they say, they use wood for cooking.

From Fedno

… is a teacher but the Solar Cooker helps her a lot, especially with the dry beans.  She leaves the beans in the sun with a lot of water.  When she comes back the beans are always very well done. So by the Solar Cooker, it’s not only money she Economizes but also her time. While she is in school, at home the beans are boiling.

… used to buy about 1 big bag and a half of charcoal to cook every month.  Since she bought a solar cooker her expenses decreased.  Now she uses only half a big bag during a month to make food for seven persons.  All this is from using the power of the sun and $0 to use it.

--- said using the Solar Cooker is a perfect thing for her because it is using a system that helps to save money, helps to have more time to do whatever you want, and a system that can help us to have another environment in the future.  This is something that needs encouragement.

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We want to acknowledge and thank our collaborators in these exciting steps.  The work around Hinche relies on SunDome Solar Ovens, from Solar Oven Reflectors, LLC, and others from a generous individual (donations), and from Haines Solar Cookers, LLC (sales).  The work in Jacmel relies on purchases at a discount from Haines. We are glad to call upon several organizations and individuals for advice and to lend a hand.

We in PPAF are delighted to share the preliminary information in this report!  Going forward, we want to expand the work and create small business opportunities, including local assembly and distribution of solar cookers.   It is our donors and friends who make this possible!

Links:

• Public-Private Alliance Foundation website