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Cook Stove Project Starts in El Salvador

El Salvador

"Who would have thought they would give me a diploma for the kind of work I do?" As she spoke, tears welled up in my eyes as they did in hers. "I have no education. I am in my sixties. I can't even read or write."

El Salvador

"Who would have thought they would give me a diploma for the kind of work I do?" As she spoke, tears welled up in my eyes as they did in hers. "I have no education. I am in my sixties. I can't even read or write."

Julia, a hard-working grandmother in El Salvador, had just been presented a certificate by Jackie Jansen, a Brethren Volunteer Service volunteer. Julia helped Jackie test a new fuel-efficient wood-burning cookstove, which replaced the open pit fire she had used for cooking. She runs her own one-woman business from her home, where she makes and sells "tortillas" and "pupusas," foods popular in El Salvador.

Three quarters of all cooking energy in El Salvador comes from firewood. This contributes to severe deforestation. And smoke inhaled from open fires coats the lungs of many women cooking.

To help promote small-scale, grassroots, fuel-efficient stove projects, Trees for Life is working with the Central American Institute of Industrial and Technological Investigation (ICAITI).

Women like Julia who run their own small business earn around $2.80 a day. They cannot buy a stove in one payment, which costs about $41.00?almost ¾ of a month's income. The project plans to set up a rotating fund to provide credit to women business owners like Julia. It also plans to train two mason workers in stove construction.

During the test, Julia reduced her wood use by nearly half. And thanks to the stove's chimney, she began to lose her terrible cough. She will gladly keep her new stove, demonstrating how people can learn to help them-selves and our precious earth.