improved Stoves 359
Improved Stoves
Smoky cooking stoves cause many serious health problems. Reducing smoke
from stoves is an important way to improve family health.
The type of stove people use depends on what foods are cooked, what fuels
and stove-making materials are available, and traditional cooking methods.
To improve stoves and solve the problems of indoor air pollution, development
workers and health promoters need to work together with the people who will
use the stoves. Only an improved stove that pleases the cook while using less
fuel and reducing smoke will be used and seen as a real improvement.
Women improve stoves for fuel and flavor
Like many women in Guatemala, Inez used to cook her
family’s meals on a hand-built stove that burned a lot
of wood and filled the kitchen with smoke. When an
organization that builds improved stoves came to her
town, she went with other women to hear them speak.
People from the organization had designed a new
stove that used less wood, made less smoke, and cost
very little to build. They asked who wanted to try the
new stove, and Inez volunteered.
Inez and her neighbors worked with the organizers,
mixing clay with straw and sand to build the body of the stove. The
organization provided a metal griddle that was set on top of the stove to cook
tortillas. They cut wood into small pieces and lit the stove. It worked really
well! Inez saw that it used much less wood than her old stove, and the chimney
carried smoke out of the house. But after eating just a few meals cooked on the
stove, Inez and her family realized the tortillas cooked on the metal griddle had
no flavor.
Months later, when people from the stove group returned, Inez thanked
them. Then, in a small voice she said, “There is one problem with the stove.
I think it makes tortillas taste bad.” The organizers listened, and asked why
tortillas tasted different on this stove. “The old griddle was made of clay,” she
said. “Maybe that’s the difference.”
That afternoon Inez, her neighbors, and the organizers made a griddle from
local clay. They molded it, let it dry a few days, and then replaced the metal
griddle with the clay one. Inez let the stove heat slowly while her daughter
made tortillas. When the stove was hot enough, she laid the tortillas on the
griddle. When they were ready she shared them with her family. They tasted
good! Now, Inez and her family truly have an improved stove.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012