Las Vidas Mejoradas

Currently we have a pilot project near Cuzco, Peru. 20 families are using a modified Inkawasi stove/chimney with a larger combustion chamber to accommodate two burners. In addition the families are using retention cookers. Using a digital peak flow meter and a pulse oximeter, baseline health statistics were obtained. Also surveyed was perceived health status, common cooking practices (type of food and time spent cooking), and fuel gathering and use for 63 people in the 20 families. We plan on a followup visit in March 2011 (after two years) to repeat health testing and evaluate stove usage and maintenance.

In 2007, we created a 100-stove project in Peru's Paucartambo province which was largely unsuccessful. Details on this project are included below.

The origins of the stove design for our current project are rooted in the problems we encountered with the 2007 project. We encountered a number of significant barriers in that situation. Accessibility to the houses was limited and in some cases impossible. There was a language barrier given that most people spoke only Quechua, necessitating translators. Local cooking practices depended on having two simultaneous pots with direct flame, which was not a workable feature of the Inkawasi stove model that we were using. In addition, the lack of room heat produced by the stoves was a problem, particularly for the elderly. When we made a followup visit in 2008, we discovered that most of the stoves had been hollowed out. The burners were placed side by side, with the chimneys remaining. Followup baseline testing of 40 people showed no significant improvement in health.

With all of that in mind, we changed our overall approach with our current project to include an improved stove design that addressed the issues we encountered. Our new model has a larger burn chamber and well accommodates two pots. We also decided to make the project smaller in scale, with more intensive education and followup. The location is easier to access, and most people speak Spanish.

We are beginning research on the site of a new project with a more remote community in partnership with a Peruvian NGO (el Hogar por los Ninos del Sol). The project location will be established in 2011. Our goals are to assist with the construction of a community kitchen and greenhouse and thus introduce the stove, again utilizing to the extent possible local materials and assistance. Our intention is to identify a small core group of community members willing to use an improved stove.

Our experience with market development is limited. We do feel it is important for participants to have ownership of the stove; perhaps more key is to maintain an equal partnership with project participants and ourselves that does not rob a community of its pride and motivation. During our 2007 project we utilized a local market only to introduce the stove. In this case, no one could pay for the stove until potatoes were sold. While agreements had been made to make payment, they were as a rule not honored. In our most recent project, people had more accessible money and each paid 30 soles or approximately $9 to participate. And in this case we have gone a step further to offer a return of their money should they demonstrate continued use and reasonable care of the stove and chimney. Finally, we consider it important to work with local services, labor and materials and in that way contribute to the local economy (as well as minimizing logistical and transportation problems).

Through the experience of our 2007 project, we have come to see that maintaining standardization is very important. Our inability to access all homes and minimize individual interpretations of design likely contributed to these stoves not functioning as well as they could have. At the time of this project, while we maintained visibility and offered programs to learn more about the stoves, oftentimes villagers could not (or would not) participate. When we did followup visits for the 2007 project, only a few stoves had the original design intact. One of these was an alternate design that had been tried by a resident of the Mandorani community. For a variety of reasons, we ended up working with this community. Our decision to use his design was based not only on the 2-burner feature, but on a Water Boiling Test performed on the new model and a still-in-use old model that showed equal times (25 minutes for 2.5 liters, 12"x8" round pot with lid). For the new Mandorani project, all 20 stoves were built to the same design specifications by our builder/designer Tomas Huillca Palomino.

We have done extensive health-related interviews and a variety of baseline tests on approximately 120 families so far between the two projects. Included were peak flow meter testing, pulse oximetry testing, and perceived health status. Our evaluation tool can be reviewed on request. Our goal is to continue these tests at periodic intervals for as many families as possible so to demonstrate the benefits of an improved biomass stove.

None noted

We can provide valuable links to a variety of Peruvian NGOs that are working in the region, most of whom are extremely interested in reducing IAP and respiratory illness in Peruvian children. For example, five of our twenty stoves are currently in a community named Choco in an informal partnership with the Peruvian NGO Hampy (www.hampy.org). We are currently investigating other small Peruvian nonprofits to partner with. Other larger organizations such as Sembrando and Pro Peru exist and can also be collaborated with. It is our goal to contribute to the growing body of knowledge and experience in this geographical area by working together to bring improved sustainable cooking technologies and health to many more small communities in the Peruvian Highlands.

In addition, we are gathering health data that over time could provide information about high altitude IAP reduction.