Promote Sustainable Agriculture in Chiapas, Mexico

We are pleased to report that DESMI has an impressive wood-saving stove project underway. In addition to saving wood, the stoves greatly improve the health of women, and their children, who use them.

Exposure to and inhalation of smoke from burning wood with traditional stoves (lacking chimneys) causes a whole host of serious health problems- everything from respiratory infections and asthma to cataracts and carbon monoxide poisoning. Installing efficient, enclosed wood burning stoves is a simple, effective way to conserve the forests (deforestation is an increasing problem in rural Mexico) and remove smoke from the home.

In the small community of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, DESMI has ensured that all 18 families have wood-saving stoves, increasing their overall health and quality life.

The new stoves are culturally appropriate to Mayan cooking traditions and several nearby communities have expressed interest in installing the stoves in their own communities. DESMI provides training on the construction of the stoves, loans for the purchase of materials to build them, and on-going support to the families who use them them.

The women from the community are very grateful for their new stoves and have already seen tangible improvements. “We hope other women will be able to have wood-saving stoves, as they have helped us very much,” says one woman from the community. Others mentioned feeling better physically and saying their eyes were no longer red and irritated. Women reported that with their stoves, they are saving wood and cooking time because they can now prepare several dishes simultaneously. And yet another said: “Even the cats and chickens come up to the wood-saving stove and smile.”