Climate Action Guatemala Project #43537

Protect Guatemalan Forests with Clean Cookstoves

by Asociacion Tu'ik Ruch' Lew

Project Report | Sep 27, 2022
CLIMATE ACTION NOW! in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala

By Nancy Derr | Volunteer TRL Team Member

Before: an open fire for cooking

This year has been very good to us here at Tu'ik Ruch' Lew (TRL). Our clean cookstove project has continued to progress. Although COVID-19 is still with us, most restrictions have been either reduced or lifted. The TRL team has been meeting with potential beneficiaries again and stove installation is moving forward at a rapid pace. We have installed 97 stoves since February 2022.

To meet the increasing demand for stoves, a new Technical Adaptation Specialist (TAS) has joined the TRL team, and, occasionally, our accountant volunteers to help with installations. We’re proud that the members of our staff will pitch in wherever they are most needed. TRL received a grant for 162 stoves this year, so having a four-person team for installations, rather than a two-person team, has been extremely helpful. We are already more than halfway toward meeting our installation goal.

If you’ve been following our GlobalGiving updates, you will know that typically, when the rains begin in May, interest in clean cookstoves drops off. This is the time of year when families need to save their money to buy food—the next harvest won’t be in until August. However, this year, the demand for stoves has continued, and even grown. Families are finding that having an efficient, clean cookstove helps them save money. The cookstove uses 70% less firewood than the traditional three-stone fire still being used in most Tz’utujil Maya homes around Santiago Atitlan. Reportedly in the double-digits, inflation has hit Guatemala hard.

There have been some bumps in the road. A problem with the quality of a recent batch of stoves raised concerns about the manufacturing process. Isabel, our TAS, hitched a ride to the stove factory, when we sent a truck to pick up 40 stoves. She wanted to see if she could figure out what was causing the problem. While the truck was being loaded, Isa talked with the men who make the stoves. The men were surprised, but pleased, that someone was so interested in what they do. We believe that the problem lies with not letting the cement completely dry. And in the rainy season, that means a delay in delivery. We’re having a similar delay with our hand-made replacement combustion chambers…this exceptionally wet and long rainy season has made it nearly impossible to produce the clay pieces, which must be dried in the sun before being fired.

Without your continuing support, none of our success would be possible. We send you wishes for a lovely Autumn along with our heartfelt thanks!

Warm Regards,

The TRL Team

After: the ONIL stove is installed

Links:

Please Visit Our Website

Permalink

Jun 2, 2022
CLIMATE ACTION NOW! as Witnessed by a Visiting Donor.

By Nancy Derr | Friend of Tui'k Ruch' Lew

Making the first tortillas on the new stove

Itching to finally get out of my town in the USA, I schedule a two-week trip to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, to spend some time with the TRLearth.org Team. After many months of COVID shutdown in Guatemala, the Team has finally been able to get out to visit potential clients and to install and repair clean cookstoves. They have set the goal of installing 162 stoves this year, and thanks to the support of donors, they are well on their way.

I visited the TRL office, met the Team members, and went on an actual installation. On another day, I traveled with the Team to a neighboring village, San Pedro La Laguna, a 20-minute boat ride across beautiful Lake Atitlan. There, TRL had scheduled an orientation with eight Tz’utujil Maya women who were interested in finding out more about the cookstove project and the “do’s and don’ts“ when using one of these unique stoves.

During the orientation, Isabel, the Technical Adaptation Specialist (TAS), gave a thorough presentation with plenty of time to answer many questions. She explained that families who decide to get a clean cookstove are participating in an environmental project to "take climate action now." The cookstove will immediately improve their air quality, reduce the amount of firewood they need, and help save the region’s forests, but only if they commit to use it in the way that is was carefully designed to be used. Sometimes people mistakenly think that they are "buying the stove" and can do whatever they want with it...including chopping open the front so that they can continue to burn big logs!

After the presentation, all eight women wanted to have a stove. Thanks to donor support, TRL can provide these cookstoves at a greatly reduced price. The Team had just enough time that afternoon to visit the homes of four of the families; they installed those stoves the following Monday. By now, the stoves requested by the other four families have also been installed.

I've also been informed that on the first follow-up visits after installation, every stove is being used properly and greatly appreciated by the new owners. This continual follow-up is what sets TRL apart from other stove projects, where the stoves are just dropped off and never visited again.

If you are also itching to get away, I recommend you consider a trip to Santiago Atitlan. The Team encourages TRL donors and other interested visitors to Guatemala to come out to the Lake and go on a "clean cookstove tour." I can't begin to tell you how fascinating it is to see first hand the important work TRLearth.org is doing.They are truly taking Climate Action Now!

Staff in the bodega with stoves

TRL stove demo reunion

Permalink

Feb 3, 2022
In the Eyes of the Beholder

By Candis Krummel | President of the Board of Directors

Andreas with her children in front of the stove

When Andrea got married, as is the Tz’utujil custom, she went to live with the family of her husband. In this household, the family uses an improved ONIL cookstove which Tui’k Ruch’Lew had installed some years ago. Andrea had never seen one of these stoves and she was delighted with its efficiency, cleanliness and tremendous savings on firewood - not to mention no toxic smoke in her face, from which she had suffered over the open fire hearth, in the house where she grew up.

After the birth of their first child, it was time for Andrea and her husband to make their own kitchen. Andrea wanted an ONIL stove but her husband said they would have to wait until they saved the necessary money to pay their part of the stove costs - each recipient in TRL’s stove program makes a small donation towards their stove as a demonstration of their commitment to care for and maintain it. Andrea had noticed a practically new but abandoned ONIL stove in the yard of a neighbor - originally dropped off by a well-intentioned charitable group who never explained how to use the stove nor followed up on the installation. The family never really used it. Andrea acquired the remains of the stove.

Thrilled with her find, Andrea called Tui’k Ruch’Lew to ask for our help in restoring the stove, which we were glad to do. For a small investment in stove parts, she acquired her ONIL stove. Today Andrea is still using the renovated ONIL stove and carefully maintains it in good working condition. It may look old on the outside, but the innovative design, which cuts consumption of firewood by nearly 70% and almost entirely reduces harmful CO2 emissions and black carbon, is still intact and functioning perfectly. That discarded stove was a treasure in Andrea’s eyes and it is now enrolled in TRL’s project, where we visit the stove each year to ensure its continued successful functioning - part of monitoring every stove in our project.

Your donations to Tui’k Ruch’ Lew’s project “Protect Guatemala Forests with Clean Cookstoves” not only improves the health and economy of a family, but it also saves the trees on our mountains. Scientists tell us that protecting native forests which provide a carbon sink is one of the most efficient ways to reduce CO2 in our atmosphere. Our stove project not only saves those forests but reduces the amount of CO2 which is released by cooking over an open fire, by three tons in just the first year of stove use. You are taking DIRECT CLIMATE ACTION when you support TRL’s Clean Stove project!

Your donations are helping families like Andreas'. And by spreading the word, you can continue to support us.

Follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn)
Join our mailing list today
Become a monthly donor on GlobalGiving
Volunteer with us (Get in touch)

We wish you a wonderful day.

The team of Tui'k Ruch'Lew

Links:

CLIMATE ACTION NOW: Making a difference for People

Permalink

‹ 1 2 3 4 5 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.