Cookstove Surveys in Pahuwa

We visited the village of Pahuwa on Tuesday morning. Over a period of several months now, we have been encouraging the women to make their 30 bricks and collect mud for the time we will teach them how to build their own fuel efficient, two burner cookstoves. Well, the time has finally come to survey homes and to start building!  As we walked the trails throughout the community surveying each household, we learned that some women are completely ready, some are nearly ready, and a few haven't started.  It's ok. Some ideas take time to take root. 

As we walked about the village, we asked them to show us their materials and  to show us their kitchens. Many women did not have a kitchen, with kitchen being defined as a place outside the house with shelter from the rains.

Then we came to the home of one of my hygiene and sanitation students, an elderly, frail woman we affectionately call Grandma.  She told us that she is unable to made bricks for her stove. She can barely manage to collect enough wood each day to prepare meals. George has already talked to the men in the village about giving special assistance to widows and the elderly. George will enlist them to build her a lean-to porch to shelter her new stove.

These stoves save fuel and burn cleaner,  but it isn't just about the environment. We care about deforestation and lung disease, but our primary focus is much more than that.  It is about the  people Jesus came to die for.   We want  to be expressions of the love of Jesus with each one.

Grandma will soon get her cookstove, but while she is enjoying it, we want her to know that the gift was motivated by God's big love for her.