Using Solar Energy for Cooking Fuel in Kenya

• Solar_day_in_Mitaboni.pdf (PDF)
  

This July, we received our first donation to the solar energy for cooking fuel project in Kenya. With this money, we are planning to conduct an initial demonstration on solar cooking. In this, we will partner with Solar Cookers International; an organization that has done wonderful work of promoting solar cooking among rural communities in Kenya.

Two Maasai women from Kajiado in Kenya, who are part of a group of women that has already undergone training on solar cooking through Solar Cookers International, will conduct the exposure session. Popularly known as SCOREPS (Solar Cookers Representatives) in solar cooking circles, the women have been making solar cookers known as ‘cookits’. The ‘cookits’ are not only simple to make, but also produce delicious meals. The women are also earning an income from making and selling the solar ‘cookits’. We hope that the present beneficiaries of our solar energy project will experience similar benefits once they receive the full training.

A couple of weeks ago, I was on the road heading to Mitaboni to visit the project beneficiaries. My mission there was to discuss with the women about their expectations of the trainings. As always, they were ecstatic and can’t wait to get exposed to solar cooking.

During my visit, I happened to be at a local school during lunch and could not help notice pupils scattered all over the compound enjoying their favourite meal of maize and beans, which is provided hot at the school. Although it may appear apparent that children should get a meal and a hot one during lunch, this is far from it for a host of many other children in Mitaboni. Most mothers in the project group were almost in tears as they narrated bitterly how their children, on many occasions, had to go back to school hungry. ‘Our children have come home expecting to eat only to find that we were still out looking for firewood to make them a meal’, they lamented. But there is hope that this might soon be a thing of the past for Mitaboni families once the project takes off.

The only sad thing is that we are currently experiencing very cold weather in Kenya with the nice tropical sunshine not expected till late August. As a result, we may not start as soon as we would want because we need sunlight to allow demonstrations of how solar cooking works. In spite of this, all arrangements are in top gear and we hope to start as soon as the weather allows. More updates from the demonstrations will be posted in September. Do come back and check them out.

We would like to thank all our donors for having responded to the plight of rural women in their search for a sustainable source of energy. Thank you very much. We still need more funds to enable us to conduct the full training which will give Mitaboni women skills on how to make solar cookits. The trainings will also be an avenue of making a training video that will be used to train other similar groups. Empowering these women with new skills will not only help them to prepare meals for their families, but will also help free up time spent looking for firewood for other life-improving activities. But for this to happen, we need your help. So do keep those funds coming