Currently, many families in rural Guatemala are cooking with open flames within their homes, contributing to respiratory illness & inefficient wood burning. $150 covers supplies and installation of one clean and efficient cook stove in the home of a Guatemalan family. $15,000 is needed to support the next 80 stoves built! Your donation will positively impact the health and wellness of families for years to come, providing a much needed hand up.
National Geographic stated that "The typical cooking fire produces about 400 cigarettes' worth of smoke an hour, and prolonged exposure is associated with respiratory infections, eye damage, heart and lung disease, and lung cancer. In the developing world, health problems from smoke inhalation are a significant cause of death in both children under five and women." Additionally, open burning stoves are less efficient, promoting deforestation.
Cook stoves with proper chimneys, like the stoves GL install, offer a solution to this issue. The stoves GL students install burn wood more slowly than open flames, and they divert smoke outside the home through chimneys at a surprisingly low cost of $150/stove . Additionally, the stoves are accepted by the Guatemalan communities. Families say they enjoy cooking on and eating food from these stoves.
Long term impacts include improving health of families for generations. Medical bills due to respiratory illness can be avoided when stoves with proper ventilation are used. Additionally, since the stoves require less fuel, deforestation will decrease, and mothers will not have to collect as much firewood. This leaves time for children to attend school rather than helping collect firewood. Educated societies are more equip to create further positive change.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
