Improved Cooking Stoves.
Happiness is a wood burning stove.
On April 25th and May 12 2015 large earthquakes struck Nepal and devastated many of the homes and public buildings of Goli. This then meant that we had to rethink our priorities. We set about rebuilding a primary school. In April 2016, I, Dawa and our friend Louise Nevitt visited the school and the village. Several villagers approached Dawa asking where their stoves were.
Most village homes have such severe damage that they are not living inside them, but in temporary shelters nearby. These are made of wood, tarpaulin and metal. They are draughty, full of the contents of their homes and in many cases cluttered. The villagers continue to cook on rudimentary fires in or near these spaces, which is now even more dangerous as there is now also a risk of their shelters catching fire. There are many problems associated with living in these small spaces and we would like to help to alleviate a major issue. Once the families are able to rebuild their homes they will be able to transfer their stoves into these.
Luckily it appears most of the villagers who already had wood burning stoves have been able to transfer these to their temporary shelters – they are even more vital in a small compact space as without the smoke is unbearable.
On a recent trip to the village we were pleased to see that everyone who has a wood burning stove is delighted with it. Other villagers were approaching us to ask for one and so we are really keen to continue with this project to make life safer, easier, and cleaner, with less indoor pollution. This will reduce many of the health issues associated with cooking on the rudimentary cook stoves being used at present. It will also reduce problems associated with collecting firewood from the forest and reduce the environmental damage to the forest.