Climate Action Zambia Project #54440

Protect Zambian Forests with Clean Cookstoves

by Kukula Solar

Project Report | Jul 19, 2026
The Smoke That Stole Her Breath - Until Kukula Solar Came

By Francis Mbewe | Project Leader

Kachiranda Village, Sinda District — by Kukula Solar

For 42-year-old Luyando, cooking was hurting her family.

Every day in Kachiranda Village, she woke at 4am to walk 3 hours for firewood. Then she cooked three meals over a smoky three-stone fire inside her small kitchen. Her eyes watered. Her two youngest children coughed all night. The walls were black with soot.

"We used a lot of wood, a lot of smoke, and a lot of time," Elina says. "My kitchen was always dark, even during the day."

And it was expensive. She spent almost 200 Kwacha every month buying charcoal when she could not find firewood.

In April, Kukula Solar brought clean cookstoves to Kachiranda.

Luyando received one of our improved cookstoves w. It uses 60% less firewood and takes all the smoke out of the kitchen.

Today, everything has changed.

Her kitchen is clean. Her children no longer cough at night. She collects firewood only once a week, not every day. She cooks faster and saves over 120 Kwacha every month.

With the 13 hours she saves each week, she now makes and sells vitumbuwa at the market — earning extra money for school uniforms.

"Before, I feared my kitchen. Now it is my favorite place. My husband eats with us inside. My children are healthy," she says, smiling.

One clean cookstove did not just clear the smoke. It gave Elina health, time, savings and dignity.

This is the power of clean cooking.

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Mar 23, 2026
Clearing the Smoke, Building a Brighter Future

By Francis Mbewe | Project Leader

For generations in the quiet village of Chinunda, deep in the Chipangali district, the heart of the home was a place of both comfort and hardship. For mothers like Grace, the kitchen was defined by the persistent sting of smoke from the traditional three-stone fire. Preparing the daily nshima was a battle against stinging eyes and a constant, irritating cough. The walls of her kitchen were blackened with soot, a visible reminder of the air her family breathed every day.

Each week, Grace and her eldest daughter would spend hours on long, tiring treks to gather firewood. The journey grew longer as the surrounding woodland thinned, stealing precious time that could have been spent tending their small vegetable garden, helping the younger children with schoolwork, or simply resting. The open fire was also a constant worry, a burn hazard for her toddlers playing nearby.

Then, a simple but revolutionary change arrived in Grace’s home, made possible by your support: an improved clean cookstove.

The very first time Grace lit the new stove, the transformation was astounding. The stove was designed to direct heat efficiently, consuming far less wood and, most importantly, producing a fraction of the smoke. For the first time, Grace could cook for her family while breathing freely. The endless cough that had plagued her for years began to disappear.

The impact rippled through every part of her life. The weekly burden of collecting firewood was cut in half. With this newfound time, Grace has expanded her garden, growing more vegetables to sell at the local market, bringing in a small but vital extra income. Her daughter can now stay home to focus on her studies, dreaming of a future beyond the village. The kitchen is no longer a hazardous, smoke-filled room, but a safe, warm space where her children can gather without risk.

Meals are now cooked faster, and the money saved from needing less fuel is being put aside for school fees. Grace’s home is no longer marked by a plume of dark smoke, but by the happy chatter of a healthier family.

Your contribution has done more than provide a piece of equipment; it has given the gift of health, time, and economic opportunity to families like Grace's. It has cleared the air in Chinunda, allowing a new flame of hope and progress to burn brightly. Thank you.

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Nov 24, 2025
A Safer Kitchen in Chimtengo Village

By Francis Mbewe | Project Leader

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