Whisper Lite

The finished product

School food storage-posho makingsThis stove literally is the size of a hot tub (See plate inside for reference) I told them Ugandans use it to cook posho for 1,000 kids, Americans use it to soak in. They found this hilarious.

3-stone cook method

Typical School Kitchen

Lunch

Fuel

MGMT sings about them, Ugandans like to produce them and all I seem to do is write about them- KIDS. As a result you probably think that everything I have been doing here is related to kids and in a way it is. But there is a bit more to it. Amidst Dreamweaver, sports galas, grant writing and bursar’s offices I have been working on getting improved cook stoves installed. And finally it happened. There are now 10 improved institutional cook stoves in 8 schools in 5 districts immediately benefiting over 8,000 people and ultimately a tiny step in preserving the future of Ugandan (cheesy to say but a hope). My organization, KORD, received a large grant from an organization in Kenya to do a pilot project on energy saving technology, with the initial focus on improved institutional cook stoves. KORD had just finalized the details of the agreement when I arrived and so it was natural course for me to head it up.

The need for improved cook stoves seems a bit trivial, however, most of these schools are still using what is called the 3-stone method (see picture below). Ignoring just the poor efficiency and costs of this method, most of these schools are located in rural areas where preservation of natural resources is crucial yet are being used as fuel. Then there is the effects on the health of the cook staff, the danger to the children forced to collect firewood, and the inability to fully prepare enough for all the students in a timely manner. And those are just the primary consequences. These stoves aren’t being used to prepare gourmet meals. Ugandans students eat just beans and posho (a spongy like food made purely from white flour and water) every single day for lunch. And most students will only drink tea for breakfast and something very small for dinner.

In my work plan, all the stoves were suppose to be installed, a 4 district assessment of all schools and hospitals conducted, a workshop facilitated and finally a proposal for more funding all by the time I finished up. If the office had a few more staff and well if Uganda wasn’t Uganda this would actually be a plausible proposal. But that paired with of course unexpected variables, significantly delayed the project. However, we did get the stoves installed and even added on a bit more. However, explanations and black and white stats are boring, I much prefer colorful pictures.