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Published: September 6th 2009
Cooking indoors over an open fire is one of the issues that the people of Santa Maria de Jesus face in there daily lives. As it does many people in similar circumstances across the world. It is this issue that I went to this town in Guatemala to learn more about and to assist in fixing it for four families whilst I was there. After a week of one-on-one Spanish lessons in Antigua, I was ready to get my hands dirty with a bit of manual labour, something that I have missed after a number of years working and studying indoors in Britain.
Santa Maria de Jesus is a town of about 25,000 people, although you wouldn't think so as it doesn't appear to have that many houses around. I was to learn later that each dwelling houses an average size family of 8 (excluding dogs, donkeys, horses, chooks and other animals). It is nestled in the curve of an extinct volcano called Volcan Agua and another smaller volcano. It is a beautiful spot with great views down towards Antigua and up at Volcan Agua, which looms over it.
We arrived at the GVI school on Monday morning, where
I was introduced to Juan Carlos and Alberto. They are two of the stone masons that are hired by GVI to construct the stoves when required, with the assistance of the volunteers. It is a project that they are very passionate about and have so far built around 150 stoves between them, since the start of the project. I took off into the village with Juan Carlos, the younger of the two, and Dian, a lady who was also volunteering on the stove project at the time, went with Alberto. We wandered up through the paved streets to the house, where I was to be constructing the first of four stoves that I had committed myself to build. As donkeys and horses are used more than cars in this village, there was plenty of crap to dodge on our way.
All of the material required for the construction of the stove was already there. So once an area was decided on, I was instructed to start mixing some concrete that would be used to establish the footings for the stove. Once that was done, I mixed a batch of mortar that was used to lay the blocks that formed
By lunch of 1st day
By lunch of 1st daythe base of the stove. This was all done on the ground using garden hoes as the mixing tools. Once the blocks were laid, we cut up lengths of rio rod, that I twitched together with wire to form the reinforcing mesh for the slab of concrete that is later laid on top of the blocks into wooden form work that Juan Carlos was building. After the slab was poured, I needed to sift some clay soil and mix more mud, this time using lime rather than cement. This was used to lay the clay bricks, which formed the stove and the base for the plancha (stove top) to be mounted on.
By lunch time, we had 3 of the 5 layers of bricks laid on top of the slab, so we left it at that and headed back towards the GVI school for a two hour lunch break. Juan Carlos went back to his home and I returned to Santiago's place, which is on the same street as the school, where I met the other volunteers for a lovely warm meal that was prepared by Santiago, his wife and children.
With all the mud mixing out of
the road, I was able to concentrate on laying the remainder of the bricks, including the bricks on the inside that formed the mount for the plancha. The entire inside of the stove was then covered with the rest of the mud. We then installed the chimney and plancha. This was close to the end of the day, so we called it quits and went back to the school, where I was able to hang out with the kids, while everyone was cleaning up and getting ready to catch our bus back to Antigua.
Day 2 of the stove construction started with more mud mixing and mesh making. This time for the slab and bricks that form the table built off the side of the stove. This table is used as a prep area, but also is used to mount the manual corn grinder. Tortillas, made from corn, are part of the staple diet of these people, and are eaten 3 times a day, so this requires lots of corn grinding. By lunch time, we had the side table constructed, the whole unit covered in render, and the chimney extended through a hole that was cut into the corrugated
iron roof. The couple of hours after lunch, were spent finishing off the render into a smooth finish, which was best left to Juan Carlos, whilst I cleaned up and yarned with the family. They presented me with a piece of cloth art that one of the women of the family had hand woven. This was a gift to me to show their appreciation for the donation of the stove and my time. This was unexpected and appreciated.
Other than a few differences, the other 3 stoves were constructed following a similar procedure. On these ones I worked with Alberto, who I got to know quite well over my time there and we built up a nice friendship. He and I are the same age, so it was interesting for us to compare some of the differences in our lives. He took me to his house, one afternoon, where I met a couple of his nieces and his father who all live there. With all my stoves built, I spent my last week there helping a mother and daughter team to construct the first of their stoves, as well as help out Rachael with her class at the school.
My experience volunteering at Santa Maria de Jesus was much better, and more rewarding than I expected. It is this type of project that I would like to continue being involved in in the future. I was able to see and understand what a difference, the addition of a stove makes to the lives of these families. I learnt that around a third of the amount of wood is required for their cooking, which cuts down on the destruction of the nearby forest, as well as the time and work involved in collecting it. The smoke from the open fires fills the homes, which causes the people to go blind and also causes them respiratory problems. The open fires are also dangerous for the children, and cooking on the ground is very unhygienic, due to the dogs and chickens running around on the dirt floor each day, near where the food is prepared and cooked. Each stove costs around US200 in materials and the hire of the local mason to construct. When you consider that the average yearly income per family is much less than this, you realise that it is nearly impossible for them to purchase one, and
progress from the problems they have due to their current situation, without the existence of a project such as this one and the volunteers to fund it.
If you would like to learn more about this paticular project you can visit - http://www.gvi.co.uk/projects/central-america/guatemala/volunteer-community-construction-project-guatemala/home
An important thing to mention in responce to a comment posted, is that the people of santa Maria de Jesus chose the addition of a stove when offered volunteer assistance for their village. It is they that think that progressing from cooking indoors over an open fire, will improve the overall quality of their lives, including no longer suffering the medical conditions that I mentioned. They are also concerned with the destruction of the forest that they rely on for cooking and heating, so a 60% reduction of the wood required for this is not only money well spent, but an improvement in the sustainability of this forest and the earth in general.
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Paul
non-member comment
Nice blog, but I don't understand why you say that cooking indoors over an open fire is an "issue" that needs fixing. Probably the majority of the world's population live this way and it isn't a big issue (at last for those people who I've met). In my experience, people would probably that the $200 was spent on something else (especially given how low their income levels are).