"Now there is no more smoke, and our legs don’t burn either!"
Kaman Lare Bombouak lives in Malagou, a village in the Savannas Region of northern Togo. Like all of her neighbours Kaman used to cook for the family on traditional open stoves. Kaman says that these stove caused great problems in her village: “it was rare to have a week without having an accident related to children burning and house fires.”“We were so fed up with heat and smoke.”It was so overpowering that “men disliked cooking even when they were hungry.”
Those were not the only problems: the stoves used up so much firewood that women would spend large portions of their day looking for wood. They didn’t have time to help their husbands in the fields.
“Since we have had an fuel effcient mud stove built we can now cook quickly and easily. We use light cotton and millet stems for fuel, which spares firewood and of course the trees!” Exclaimed Kaman. “Now, women get less and less tired looking for firewood and can find time to help their husbands on the farms and take care of their children. There is no more smoke, and our legs don’t burn either!"
Kaman is so overwhelmed at the difference that these stoves have bought to her lifestyle that she goes around promoting them in her village, and has already helped build over 200 in her village.
“Nevertheless, there are some women who have not understood yet.” Says Kaman. “I still continue to explain to them that we must stop cutting trees until everybody adopts the system. Then our entire village can become a forest again.”
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