[fsf60k] Re: cutting down on smoking
- From: craft155@xxxxxxx
- To: fsf60k@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 16:15:47 -0400 (EDT)
What a great idea if it really works as well as promoted. Think your
suggestion to try a few is good, Dick.
Hope to see you n the spring.
Jo-Anne
-----Original Message-----
From: richard wiltamuth <dwiltam@xxxxxxxxx>
To: fsf60k <fsf60k@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wed, Mar 19, 2014 1:06 pm
Subject: [fsf60k] cutting down on smoking
dear friends,
the sight of nicaraguan cooks hovering over smoky fires all day has always
bothered me, as well as the amount of wood hauled in from the hills to prepare
meals. there may be an answer.
i have made contact with brian davis, who is part of a nonprofit group called
the nicaragua initiative for community advancement. among other things, it has
a factory near granada that has produced about 2,000 brick stoves of the
"rocket stove" type for about $10 each. the "coci-nica" is said to cut smoke
and fuel usage by 50 percent.
during our spring trip, i propose visiting the factory and buying a few to have
our communities test them. if the stoves pass muster, more of them could be
purchased.
below is an article written by brian davis that includes a link to their
website. or you can google "coci-nica" to find out more.
best to all,
dick wiltamuth
The Coci-Nica is changing the rules of the kitchen
By: Brian Davis | March 1, 2014
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The Coci-Nica is providing employment and healthier cooking in the Nicaraguan
countryside
Most poor Nicaraguan families cook with firewood. You’ve seen the “three rock”
open fires and the blackened walls of their smoke-filled kitchens. Imagine the
lungs of the mothers and children that spend much of their time in those
kitchens.
The traditional way of cooking
Consider also that a family of five spends about 20 Cordobas a day to purchase
their firewood, or cuts down trees and carries the wood long distances on their
backs. Children are often burned by the exposed fires and women spend their
days in the hot, smoky kitchens. Around the world, over 2 million women and
children die yearly from inhaling the smoke from cooking fires. All told, smoke
emitted by cooking fires contributes more to climate change than automobiles do.
Over 2,000 Nicaraguan families have found a better way to cook: the Coci-Nica,
a highly efficient clay-brick wood-burning stove based on a rocket stove design.
Produced in Las Comarcas de La Laguna, near Granada, and made entirely of local
materials and with Nicaraguan ownership and labor, the Coci-Nica uses one-third
of the firewood, emits very little smoke, cooks much faster, and is protected
from the wind and children. It can burn firewood of any size, from large
chunks to small twigs and cooks up to 5 gallons of food. It even works with
charcoal. The Coci-Nica last for many years and saves the average family about
$150 each year.
The 'new way' of cooking
A simple, low-tech, realistic solution to a big problem!
At 250 Cordobas ($10) the Coci-Nica is accessible to all but the poorest
Nicaraguans. There are more efficient wood-burning stoves in the world, but
none at a realistic price that is sustainable within the true economy of
Nicaragua.
The 2,000 families who currently use this energy-saving stove paid for them;
they were not charity! And the production and sale of the Coci-Nica is
providing good jobs for five residents of the comarcas.
Although we never give it away, some of the very poorest families still cannot
afford the full price of the Coci-Nica. Would you like to help by subsidizing
stoves for some of these families? Do you have a business that could finance or
subsidize stoves for its employees? Are you connected to an NGO that would like
to subsidize stoves? One hundred dollars will allow 17 families to purchase a
stove at a price they can afford.
Please contact us at nancy.brian@xxxxxxxxx or call us at 8991-0543. More
detail is available at our website.
It’s a small investment with a guaranteed large return!
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About Brian Davis More by this author
Brian and Nancy first came to Nicaragua in 2007 to visit a son who was living
in the country after a stint in the Peace Corps. They fell in love with the
land and people of Nicaragua and eventually bought property on the rim of
Laguna de Apoyo. The next year they built our house and began their adventure
into discovering how the culture works here.
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