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==Audio and video==
  
==Audio and video==

Revision as of 01:39, 4 September 2008

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News and Recent Developments

  • January 2007: Nearly $6,000 was collected on January 8th at a Fresno Rotary luncheon for the purchase of sewing machines to be used by Women Associations participating in solar cooking, making of haybaskets, rocket stoves, and WAPI's in Rwanda. Contact: Wilfred Pimentel

The History of Solar Cooking in Rwanda

This small landlocked, very populous nation occupies a significant role in solar cooking history. In 1994 when a civil war broke out in the nation, millions of people fled to neighboring then-Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) as refugees. This exodus, one of the largest in a short period, overwhelmed available services initially and this situation did not improve for a substantial period of time. The event occurred just as representatives of the solar cooking community from around the world were meeting in Costa Rica at the Second World Conference on Solar Cooking, sponsored by SCI. Between sessions, the assembled solar promoters watched hotel televisions and listened to radios as the news turned ever worse, with reports of cholera deaths from unclean water, lack of food, housing, and other services. The event was the impetus for Solar Cookers International to shift from what had been largely an educational and networking role to one of demonstrating in practice that solar cooking had a role to play in keeping people in need alive and well. Shortly before the meeting, the new inexpensive cooking device, the CooKit had been devised by Roger Bernard, French promoter for many years, and then adapted further by Barbara Kerr, the US sage of the movement. Concern for the people of Rwanda was the impetus for planning a new phase in SCIs history, made possible for the first time by the emergence of an inexpensive but efficient cooker.

More recently, a project began in Rwanda in 2003, initiated by local Rotary groups, in concert with Rotary groups from other parts of the world. A team traveled to Rwanda in the summer of 2003, after a long period of planning and consultation, to initiate the project. This project is somewhat unusual in its emphasis on combining the use of solar cooking with the use of hay box and fuel-efficient stoves. This provides the cook with an integrated method - the most efficient "cooking system" feasible at low cost. Wilfred and Marie Pimentel, long time solar cooking promoters, Margaret Owino and Faustine Odaba of the Solar Cookers International East Africa Office in, Nairobi, Kenya, and, for the first time, a representative of the fuel efficient stove community, Larry Winiarski, aided in the training. While too early to comment on outcomes, the project appears to be off to a good start, and will be periodically evaluated as required by good practice, as well as by the sponsoring Rotary organizations.

Climate, Culture, and Special Considerations

This beautiful tiny country of 8 million where 88% live in abject poverty consume 5,000 tons of fuel wood per day for domestic use (cooking). It is expected that by the year 2020 the populations will double and the wood use will increase to 10,000 tons/day. The government of Rwanda has major planting and reforestation projects with Rotary clubs involved- 5,000 Acacia seedlings were planted by Rotary clubs on one Sunday. Today cutting of trees without permits and firing of kilns with wood is illegal. The Environmental Minister, Drocella Mugorewera, at the opening of the Kigali Solar Cooker workshop quoted the Integrated Cooking Method as one of the best projects for the rural poor and for the protection of the environment. A government committee has been selected to determine the best fuel efficient stoves and fuel wood supplements such as solar cookers with top priorities for study going to the Centre for Research and Technical study located in Kigali.

See also

Documents

Reports

Articles in the media

Web pages

Audio and video

 March 2007: Wilfred and Marie Pimentel are 80 years old but travel regularly to teach solar cooking in Rwanda. They have a partner in Cally Alles, the director of Sorwathe tea factory. Cally has organized the people into local associations and hosts trainings at the factory. Cooking with the sun is simple but people need convincing. Carboard and aluminum? Just a few hours to cook beans? No stirring and no burning?

It's useless to tell a starving man to grow corn and "Don't cut the trees" won't do a thing for the environment when there's no alternative. Solar cooking is the solution in Central Africa where there's plenty of sun and little firewood. But there's another benefit. In the countryside there are few villages. People live in scattered clay houses miles apart. Solar cooking associations give them a reason to get together. In fact, they were so inspired by Cally's work on their behalf that they wrote a song for him and performed it when we arrived.

Contacts

NGOs based in or working in the Rwanda

Individuals

Manufacturers and vendors

See Also

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