Changing Lives - One Stove at a Time

What do you picture when I say “stove”?  A large metal contraption with four burners and an oven?  In rural Uganda a “stove” is typically three bowling ball-sized stones on the ground placed close enough to support a cooking pot.  Small sticks are fed into a fire built between the stones, which boils the family’s water and cooks their beans and matoke (green bananas).  While this type of stove is simple and costs nothing to make, its use has multiple negative consequences.  1) It consumes a lot of wood, which equals time and energy for the women because firewood is scarce. 2) Many small and large trees lose their lives to the urgent need for daily sustenance. Consideration for the future is a luxury not easily afforded.  3) The “three-stone” stove causes respiratory problems for women and girls who use them in tiny smoke-filled, mud-walled huts that serve as kitchens.

So how is ACTS changing the lives of these women and girls? ACTS introduces the use a fuel-efficient stove constructed from locally made bricks and some mud.  In our current project, the ACTS environment staff has trained four local volunteers, who will build 200 of these stoves for households that will demonstrate the benefits of the FES.  We hope that neighbours and family will also build them when they see the difference. 

I watched an FES being built last week.  It was a fascinating process, taking no more than one hour.  While I was the photographer for this stove-building, I hope to get my hands dirty in the next round.  It looks like too much fun to miss!



In February I interviewed 30 families that now use ACTS fuel-efficient stoves that are very happy with the change that the stoves brought.  Here’s what a few respondents said:

• “The food can't be contaminated by the smoke with FES and the smoke can't cause you to have cough, flu and cancer.”
• "Much, much has changed [because of the FES]. When we were not using the FES the smoke would be a lot; people could not sit in the kitchen; now it uses less firewood, less time to cook, and there is less cough.”
• “Children can't be burnt by the saucepan... and also you can [cook] two dishes at once.”