As you may have noticed, I have been away from work for a bit. While I was off re-charging my work batteries, I took some time to visit our ongoing Cook stove Project in West Kisumu sponsored by Australian Aid. My reason for visiting was mainly to monitor progress and interact with the women with the understanding that time to audit a project is when you can still add value. Auditing a project at the end is like bayoneting the wounded.
I was amused very much to see how the women were so passionate in mixing sand and cement, putting parts together and fixing the stoves. The women complimented the efforts fronted by Carbon Zero in developing the project terming the initiative as a life changing one. They said that the skills they had acquired through the training by Carbon Zero were so immense and that they would love to put them into good use to create incomes and improve their livelihoods. During that time I also took time with our Regional Coordinator for Kisumu Wycliffe Odumo to unveil the banner that will be used during marketing of the stoves.
‘We are living in strange days. Today, it would appear that stove production work is hard and thus should be left for men, hard work, is a dirty four letter word to many. But I want to propose that whatever the obstacles, hard work has benefits that should not be overlooked or avoided. As they say in my village, no one ever drowned in sweat. What have you been avoiding…because it seems hard? What new endeavour have you put off, because it just seems impossible? I’ve got news for you. It IS impossible – so long as you sit there and do nothing. But hard work just might change all that.’ These were my words to the women having seen what they were doing.
So how are things shaping up for the project? So far so good! Stove production is almost complete thus getting us into the dynamic marketing process. We intent to put our best foot forward as we get into selling over 800 cook stoves, hope we manage in good time.