Protect Zambian Forests with Clean Cookstoves

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.