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- September 2013: Inspiration from Solar cookers International fosters a CooKit introduction project in Malawi - Claudia Sansone, whose interest in solar cookers began when she met with current Solar Cookers International board member, AJ Lederman, and then SCI board member Pat McArdle, at a UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York in 2011. Sansone says that after she read McArdle’s novel Farishta, she was convinced that solar cooking could be successfully introduced in Malawi. With guidance from SCI executive director Julie Greene in Sacramento, California, USA, Sansone purchased several CooKits. She used these cookers to make templates, and then produced a number of the solar panel cookers to distribute. Traveling with her family to Malawi, she hosted classes and demonstrations on solar cooking with the CooKits. With a friend, she taught the women at Elizabeth Chikoya’s Women’s Development Center and members of the Gogo Grandmothers how to make more solar cookers with locally available materials. Read more at: Malawi and Solar Cookers International
McDonald Ganisyeje showing the Minister of Tourism Hon. Daniel Liwimbi MP and other top government officials from the Ministry and Department of National Parks and Wildlife how the solar cookers work
Two women from Chimwemwe centre putting sweet potatoes in a pot on the parabolic solar cooker and also using briquettes for cooking on the energy saving stove that is locally made from clay and tin.
- November 2012: Update from the Care and Support Network - The Care and Support Network is producing both parabolic solar cookers and CooKits and the women from Chimwemwe Centre produce briquettes from waste papers, sawdust, and maize husks as alternative source of energy. The theme of the function for this year was ‘Tourism and Sustainable Energy’ hence our presence there. We explained to the top government including the Minister of Tourism who visited our stands that use of solar cookers and briquettes is an alternative source of energy to using firewood and will help us protect our forests that are being depleted at an alarming rate. The Minister was impressed and bought one parabolic solar cooker the same day. Leading by example J! Land and Lake Safaris, a Tour Operator where McDonald Ganisyeje works full time provided logistical support for the solar cookers to be available at The Lilongwe Wildlife Centre where one of the parabolic solar cookers is stationed for demonstrating to the public. Land and Lake Safaris also provides waste papers from the office through the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre where the women collect them and make use for making the briquettes.
- March 2011: Sun Ovens, an Illinois, USA company, joins forces with the Rotary Club of Naperville, Illinois to help promote solar cooking for the people of Malawi, Africa. Given the economic and health struggles the country is currently facing, this population will benefit greatly from having access to safer and healthier food. The Global Sun Ovens they brought were perfect in slow cooking the “seven grains” diet given to people living with AIDS. This is a nutritious blend of seven wholesome grains that, when softened, provide patients the best nutrition without being too heavy or harsh on their digestion. Prior to the introduction of solar ovens, people would use a huge amount of fuel like charcoal or firewood to soften these grains. Now, all they have to do is to harness the power of the sun to cook their food. This minimizes their exposure to cooking fumes and the need to gather fuel. More Information...
Solar cooking trainers at a workshop in Malawi, August 2010.
- August 2010: Former African Parks Network volunteer, Pierre de Winter and his friend Mijntje van Kemenade returned to Majete Wildlife Reserve in July this year to introduce a solar cooking project to the boundary communities of Majete. The aim of the project is to train a group of women in solar cooking and the use of CooKit, demonstrating an alternative to traditional unsustainable methods of cooking with firewood. In August, two trainers, McDonald Ganisyeje and Justin Namizinga, held the first session to train one woman selected from each CBO, and the community extension of staff of Majete.
- April 2007: McDonald Ganisyeje reports that a solar cooker construction workshop has opened in Nkhotakota, with three employees. Solar CooKits cost about $5.40 to produce, using heavy cardboard that is cut by hand. Ganisyeje hopes to open additional workshops in the Chiradzulu District and the Mchinji-Lilongwe area. Contact: McDonald Ganisyeje
Solar cooker production in Nkhotakota
- November 2006: McDonald Ganisyeje of Malawi teamed up with Dr. Jan Snyder of United States in mid-2006 to build 53 panel-type solar cookers similar to the CooKit. These cookers will be sold, with the proceeds used to purchase supplies to build greater numbers of solar cookers to reach ever greater numbers of families. The project will target the Lilongwe and Nkhotakota areas first, and if all goes well will expand to other areas. Contact: McDonald Ganisyeje, Land & Lake Safaris, Box 2140, Lilongwe, Malawi. E-mail: mcdonald@landlake.net
- November 2006: As part of a teaching program to promote pasteurization of drinking water, Earl Stanley sent 100 of Solar Cookers International’s water pasteurization indicators (WAPIs) to the Touching Hearts organization for use in Malawi. The WAPIs were distributed by Rev. Max Jawati. "It fills me with great joy and satisfaction," Jawati said, "to report to you that the WAPIs we received … were successfully tested by 50 families in the rural villages and are life and cost effective." He noted that the WAPIs not only worked well when pasteurizing with solar energy, but also when pasteurizing over wood or charcoal fires. Contact: Michele Dixon, Touching Hearts, Inc., P.O. Box 761, Novi, Michigan 48376, USA. E-mail: hallen@touchinghearts.net
- July 2005: In the first year of his latest solar cooking project, Hosana Nyirenda hoped to train 30 women to make and use solar cookers. Ultimately, 42 women and eight men were trained. (Forty of them learned how to teach others.) Sixty-seven solar cooking demonstrations were conducted, raising solar cooking awareness of some 4,500 adults and children. A few communities are considering solar cooker projects of their own. Nyirenda’s project received support from the Lilongwe Rotary Club. Funds are sought to extend the project to other areas of Malawi and to focus on serving those who suffer from HIV/AIDS. Contact Hosana Nyirenda through the Lilongwe Rotary.