Stoves in Llanos and Xepache

 This past week a group of student volunteers helped finish the second stage of the stove in Doña Robertina’s house, another stove recipient in the community where we’re currently working, Llanos de Pinal. In the past two months four stoves have been built, and in March the stove at the Family Support Center was also completed. Seven families remain in the current stove group in Llanos. In the next couple weeks we will start visiting houses and interviewing our next group of stove recipients from the Xepache community. Coming up later in June we will have a big group from Timmy Global Health (http://www.timmyglobalhealth.org/) to just work on stoves. We’ve started preparing for their visit so we can make the most of their time here.

March 7, 8

On Wednesday, a group of student volunteers finished the third stage of the stove in the house of Doña Calendaria- the first stove to be completed for our new group of recipients!

Thursday morning our coordinator and several volunteers completed the second stage of the safe stove in the Guardería. 

February 29, March 1

Over the last two days, our safe stove project volunteers have worked in two different locations- the house of Doña Calendaria and the Guardería. Although the Guardería already has a safe stove, it has expanded in terms of children creating the need for an extra stove to accommodate the needs of the children. Though the plan of the stove for the Guardería has been modified, it still has all of the benefits of our normal safe stoves. The volunteers were able to complete the first stage.

The other location, the house of Doña Calendaria, saw the completion of the second stage with the help of our Projects Coordinator and several student volunteers. Additionally, the students and our coordinator were accompanied by our liaison to the community, Doña Carmelina.

Gathering materials for our new stove recipients

Today our student volunteers, our coordinator, and many new recipients of our safe stoves set out to gather materials for the 14 new stoves we will be building in the community Llanos del Pinal. First our team bought the “planchas” (the stove tops), the metal for the chimneys and the door for the front of the stove. Next the volunteers took a pickup truck to collect all of the bricks and clay necessary for all of the stoves. Finally, before leaving for Llanos del Pinal, the volunteers collected all of the concrete needed for the stoves.

After a short rest, the volunteers and the women of Llanos spent the late morning and afternoon distributing all of the materials to every house. During this process, Carmen and the safe stove coordinator determined the order of the stoves to be built. Some houses needed to repair certain aspects of their construction in order to maximize the benefits of the stove (or even just to fit the stove into the house). 

Reunion with future recipients of the safe stoves

Future recipients of stoves

After finishing all of the initial interviews with potential recipients of our safe stoves Carmen organized a reunion for all of the women to meet at Pop Wuj and learn more about the safe stove process. Today at the reunion with the future recipients of safe stoves, the women learned more about the health, economic, and environmental benefits of the safe stoves. 

Future recipients of stoves

The majority of the women have very young children or grandchildren living in their homes- children are the demographic affected most by smoke inhalation- making them the optimal beneficiaries of stoves. 

February 8, 2012

Completed 3rd stage

This week, our volunteers, led by our safe stove projects coordinator, completed the 3rd stage of the stove in the house of Doña Maria Fidelia Nimataj (Tierra Colorada Vaja). This stage includes adding the layer of bricks that will support the stove top, adding the stove top, and installing the chimney. 

Completed 2nd stage

This week, our volunteers, led by our safe stove projects coordinator, completed the 2nd  of the stove in the house of Doña Maria Fidelia Nimataj (Tierra Colorada Vaja). These stages included adding several layers of bricks secured with cement and a clay mixture. Additionally, the inside of the stove is lined with bricks providing a base for the fire. 

25th of January

Our volunteers completed the third and stage of the stove building process today at the house of Doña Guadelupe Tloc and her family. The volunteers spent the morning making cement and a clay mixture to add the final levels of bricks before installing the metal stove top. At the same time, the volunteers also had to place and position a chimney through a hole that had already been established in the roof. 

A photo of the completed stove

18th of January

Today, with 10 volunteers, we were able to split into two teams and work on two separate stoves. The houses that we worked at belonged to Doña Guadalupe and Doña Delia.
In this photo, one of our students, Max, is sawing a brick in half so that the group can alternate bricks over the three levels of bricks that are established in stage 2.



At the first house, the house of Doña Guadalupe, our team of volunteers worked on the second stage of stove building. The second stage involves adding three levels of bricks onto the initial stage. These bricks are secured with a mud mixture and cement.

In this picture, on of our students, Lindsay, is soaking bricks in order to force the air out of the bricks.

At our second house, the house of Doña Delia, our volunteer team completed the first stage of the stove was completed. The first stage involves securing a cement blog base on which to mount the rest of the stove.

November 21-25

Safe stove project coordinator David Angel and local volunteer Doña Leticia led a small group of volunteers to start stage 2 of a stove in one Doña Florentina’s house. The volunteers were able to work together for every step of stage two to ensure a solid, working stove for Doña Florentina.

While the volunteers did spend the morning working, they also spent time interacting with the community around the house, most especially the children. The children, who were thrilled to have their photos taken, laughed and played with a few of the volunteers.

After the completion of stage 2, the women of the community generously provided the volunteers with a lunch of tamales hot tea.

With Help from Everybody!

When we arrived to begin work on the stove, all 7 family members that were home were waiting and ready to help us. They helped us with all the phases of construction that day, and they had an awful lot of fun too. I almost felt like I a member of the family as we all worked together to sift dirt, make clay and concrete, and lay some bricks. Even the 4 year old was getting his hands dirty and helping out.
It was an incredible day with the stove project. Pop Wuj had provided some needed resources (building materials) and some volunteers with instructions and a bit of experience, but the family members themselves played an important role in the construction of their new stove. And the project was so much fun for everyone that the family invited us to come back next week to celebrate the 4 year old´s birthday!

Typical Day

For the past six weeks I've been making the trek out to Pacaxjoj to work on the safe stoves project. For those of you interested in volunteering, I'll give you an idea of a typical day. It starts at 8AM at the Pop-Wuj school. After downing a cup or two of much needed coffee, the group of students and teachers takes off for the bus stop about 6 blocks from the school. We board the "chicken bus" (an adventure in itself), pass through Cuatro Caminos and San Francisco el Alto, and with any luck arrive at our stop on the side of road somewhere in the mountains around Momostenango around 10AM. A short walk through the woods and over a small stream takes us to a schoolbuilding/store where we meet our local guide, Don Nicholas. From the store it is another 20-30 minute hike to the house of the family for whom we are building the stove.

A bit of background information about the safe stoves, or "estufas", we are constructing. The materials for each stove costs $145, and is funded entirely by the generous donations of the school's students and those of their friends and family. The stoves are made in three phases during the same number of visits to the home over the course of a few weeks. In the first phase we construct the base of the stove from concrete blocks and cement. In the second phase we build the stove's fire chamber which will one day house the wood needed to heat the stove. In the final phase we complete the fire chamber, set the "Plancha" ( the pre-cut metal stove top) in place, and construct the chimney.

Building stoves is important for a number of different reasons. Not only are the stoves more efficient than open fires in burning wood (thus helping to save the family money as well as help prevent deforestation), but are also important in reducing indoor air pollution. Many women use traditional three-stone open fires to cook food inside their homes. The women and their children constantly breathe in the smoke from these fires, and consequently are at much greater risk for respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia. The stoves we build divert this smoke outside home and help alleviate the indoor air pollution. Occasionally we have worked in the same room as the women cooking over an open fire. These few instances were more than enough to hammer home the importance of our work. To the left is an image of what years of smoke accumulation will do to a kitchen ceiling.

But back to the typical day. Once we arrive at the home of the family we quickly get started. After working for a couple hours, we break for a delicious lunch prepared by the family. The food is rarely the same, but the homemade tortillas and salsa picante are always amazing. After lunch we finish up our the phase we are working on, clean up the tools and job site, and return to our meeting spot at the schoolbuilding. A short hike from there takes us to the highway where we wait, exhausted, for our colorful chickenbus to take us home. For the student who have Spanish classes at the school in the afternoon, we're usually back in time for the 4:30 break.

That's about it! I've enjoyed doing the stove project over the past two months for the opportunity it has given me to work hands-on and to be able to see, tangibly, the difference our group has made in the life of one family. Furthermore, I think it's wonderful to get away from the city for a while, and be able to see and experience a part of Guatemala that otherwise you might not get the chance to.

If you have any other questions about the safe stove project, or are interested in donating your time or money to the project, please don't hesitate to contact me at socialwork@pop-wuj.org. Or, feel free to contact the Pop-Wuj school at info@pop-wuj.org.