Mrs. Mutegi, a farmer in Meru South is one of the many Meru South residents whose lives have changed since the introduction of CZK Improved Cook stove. The environment inside her house is now clean and smokeless. She says she can spend more time in other income generating activities as only less time is required to collect the firewood fuel.
The CZ stove saves her a lot of time and she is able to tend to her land. This has led to improved output in her farm produce. She also finds enough time to take care of her animals which provides her with income to supplement her tea farming. Her children spend the time after schooling to attend to her fish pond instead of wasting the time to collect wood fuel.
The Meru Improved Cook stove Project is located in the Meru South District of Tharaka Nithi County. More than 90% of rural families in Meru south use wood fuel to cook. The cost of wood fuel has escalated due to deforestation. Consequently, the families spend a big percentage of their income purchasing wood fuel. Besides the high expenses in wood fuel, another problem of cooking over open fire is the increased health problems brought by smoke such as lung and eye ailments. Deforestation is often the end result of harvesting firewood for cooking fuel.
The project helps to reduce the pressure placed on local forests by reducing the amount of firewood fuel consumed during cooking. Additionally, the money a family spends on wood is reduced considerably. This translates into money being available to be spent on food, education and medical care.
Education on optimal stove usage is provided by the CO2balance team – a training framework has been developed to cover all aspects of stove usage. The education covers from lighting, effective wood loading for optimal stove usage. Around 8,000 stoves have been provided to families in Meru. To support this life changing project in Meru please contact us.