Long overdue update #3- Stoves!

Please, continue reading. This subject is almost certainly more interesting than you think. Or not. On second thought, do whatever you want.

A while back my host mom wrote a proposal to build improved stoves in 5 communities vital to water production in our area. Since maintaining the number of trees and reforesting already depleted areas is vital to the continued production of water the point of the project was to reduce the primary reason for cutting trees: firewood. In a community of 50 houses, 45 depend entirely on firewood. Only three don’t use firewood at all, and when the power goes out (and it does, sometimes for long spans of time), they have to depend on neighbors for food.

When she was writing the proposal, she had no idea how to execute the construction and I’d heard of many Peace Corps volunteers leading projects like this and I figured this was a good time to pitch in. If I didn’t lead the project, it easily could have fallen through the cracks. This happens a surprisingly often. A project gets approved, then it never gets done and the money gets returned to the funding organization. I liked the idea of immediately reducing deforestation, improving community health, and reducing pollution.

The benefits of stoves can be exaggerated pretty easily. The materials I have claim 15 benefits, some of which are “it gets really hot”. When condensed into two concepts, however, the benefits couldn’t be any clearer. First, traditional stoves are basically a sheet of metal balanced on a few bricks or cinder blocks and then three walls are built with adobe, and for some reason it is then painted white. I don’t know why yet, but every single traditional wood burning stove is painted white. This is a highly inefficient design. There is no insulation or anything in the design focusing the energy toward the cooking surface. With the addition of a simple firebox people can leave their stove lit all day (to cook beans) and still save 50-60% of their firewood. If they don’t leave it lit all day the savings increase. This immediately saves trees from being cut down, and saves people time or money depending on if they buy or cut firewood. It also reduces the amount of wood each house is burning and the pollution cause by that burning. Second, the traditional stoves almost never have a properly functioning chimney. Some don’t have chimneys at all and the smoke pours back out of the mouth of the chimney. Some have chimneys, but people normally can’t afford enough metal tubing to reach the roof, so they put a hole through their adobe wall and install the chimney at a 30 degree angle. Since the tubing is usually not tubing at all, but rather a rolled up piece of sheet metal, the smoke usually escapes through the crack in mass quantity. The effectiveness of these make-shift chimneys can usually be measured in 2 ways. First, do I hack and cough immediately after entering their house, and second, is their ceiling black and is their an inch of soot on the ceiling? In houses without a chimney I always hack and cough. In houses with angled chimneys it is usually foggy, but I can breathe okay, but the ceiling is always black as night and coated in a layer of soot. Obviously, the smoke is having some lasting effects on the health of pretty much everyone. This is made more obvious since after I spend a day constructing I usually have black boogers for a day or two.

Construction is easy and fun. To build one stove takes between 3 and 8 hours, depending on a variety of circumstances. We start by building a smoke chamber out of bricks and cement blocks, attaching everything using freshly mixed mud. Then we build the outside walls, add in the firebox, and build the mouth of the stove. Next we cut a hole in the roof and put the chimney in. Then we put the cooking surface on and cover the whole thing in concrete to seal it.

I say we since everyone builds stoves with a partner. One person prepares the surface while the other mixes mud. One cuts the hole in the roof while one pushes the chimney through. One cuts bricks to the right size while the other installs them. One does something while the other plays with the local kids. If there are three people, one member can distract the kids most of the day. My partner has always been Don Julio. Don is a term of respect added in Latin America to anyone who you feel deserves respect, which is basically every adult without another title. I am sometimes Don Andres, and sometimes just Andres and sometimes Licensiado Andres, which is the title for someone with a college education. Also used are professor, doctor, engineer, and probably some others. Respect is important. Don Julio always takes the lead between us, but this is because he is a detail person and a micromanager. We work together better when he is in the lead. When I am leading, he tends to stare at everything I do curiously, then he will take the brick I am about to place and turns it around, despite the fact there is no discernable difference between the sides. So, I let him lead. It makes him happier and more relaxed. It also leaves me free to play with the little kids, so really, win-win.

All too often when people see poverty in Latin America, it is from the highway on the way to the beach, and all the houses look the same. They all have the same cheap adobe construction, the same cheap metal roofs. All seem to have the same old clothes on identical clothes lines. Even with that description most people already have the picture in their head. While occasionally I see similarities amongst the house I work in, I find that such a generalization misses so many great things about not only the people, but also the vast differences amongst the houses.

Most houses are pretty simple, concrete covering adobe, or just adobe. The roofs are almost always metal laminate. Paint is usually bright, since if someone can afford it they want it to change the feel of the house. A large quantity will have 2 or 3 rooms. 1 room is always the kitchen. The second room is the living room. When there are only 2 rooms, people sleep in the living room. When there are three, they usually have a bedroom. Tile floors are rare and a major symbol of wealth in a village. Most are dirt or concrete floors. Everyone decorates their house and they will do it with anything they have. I see a large quantity of dirty stuffed animals Americans would toss aside, but have been kept and treasured for the memories they bring. In the states, a product that comes with a sticker is usually ignored, or the sticker is given to a child. This is not true in these small villages. Much of the time, a sticker can be in English and it will still have a place of honor on the wall, since it brings color to an otherwise drab house. Calendars are quality decoration and will be up for years after the usefulness expires. The decorations in the houses eventually start to feel like a complete life story. Everything is there: the only family photo ever taken, next to the stuffed animal given during courting, and even the sticker that came with the baby’s first can of powdered milk. Nothing is left out for being tacky or dirty. Professional decorators don’t come and sanitize everything and limit certain colors. While this is a very romantic notion, I will admit, it is usually not very pretty, but every house feels lived in. Every house feels like the people inside are making the best of what they have.

If the houses are interesting, the people are incredible. I love walking to the community in the morning before all the men have gone of to “chopear” (to chop, meaning to clear land for agriculture). Almost everyone knows my name and is happy to great me as I walk up. If I get the timing perfectly I can be invited to coffee at 3 different houses before I finally make it to Don Julio’s house. I always ask how everyone is doing and how their family is. They always ask me how the stoves are coming, where I am building that day and joke that I am becoming a craftsman. Sometimes people will ask me about other things, like the micro-finance organization or what Alice is doing. I have never been met with hostility and no one has ever asked me for money. It is like living in another world. I finally get to Don Julio’s place an hour and a half after I left my house, unless I talked to more people than normal, then sometimes it can be longer. I try to get to his house at 8. Then he tells me where we are headed to and we start walking, sometimes another half hour. When we get to where we are constructing the people are always very receptive and excited. They know how much this will help them.

I suppose I can’t really generalize any other parts of each family they are all different. Sometimes I get to houses and can’t really tell where one generation ends and the next one starts. Family planning could be much better executed in the country-side of Honduras. Don Julio makes about $6 a day, but supports himself, his wife, 4 of his own kids and one of his uncle’s children. I went to one house where there were 14 people living in the house and it seemed like they had 3 kids under ten, 3 kids under 20, 4 people under 30, and 4 around 40. I couldn’t tell where one generation started or another stopped, and I wondered how it affects a kid to sleep in a room with 5 other people crammed in.

Sometimes when I am working I see evidence the people had previously been very successful. I went in one house that has a fridge, microwave, and a stove/oven combo. I was confused why they needed the wood burning stove, so I asked Don Julio. He told me there was no electricity there. Now, even more confused I asked why they would buy so many appliances if they were effectively only enormous paper weights. That’s when he taught me how truly ineffective government can be. They had electricity, but not since 1998. Hurricane Mitch destroyed the lines and after the main parts of the city got electricity, the NGOs and foreign governments stopped caring. The Hurricane also took out a couple major coffee farms which were major sources of employment. The coffee farms have mostly been replanted, but no one gets paid as much as they used to, and the appliances will continue to sit until the power company that is run by the government decides to rebuild the lines. Problem is that particular line really affects only 8 houses, but the line will cost a couple thousand dollars. It will be a long time before anyone cares, especially since similar projects can bring electricity to more people cheaper. Until then, the family will continue to hold onto the appliances, hoping that they will eventually get to use them again. They don’t even seem to notice that the appliances are there except when they are cleaning. Despite their uselessness, there was not a spot of dust on any of it. When they cooked my lunch they just use the stove outside. Thanks to my project they at least get to cook inside again.

I had a pretty unique experience when I had another gringo in the mountains helping me. He was sent to me by one of my bosses and was working on community service for his frat in the states. Charles was 19, and was happy to do something unique for his community service. The first day we went into the mountains I made him walk just like I do, and he agrees. It is a long walk.

The first day we just taught him the process and he was amazed by the stoves we were replacing. He had lived in Africa and where he lived people cooked on open fires all the time, but would build the open fires outside. He was surprised how much smoke people would just inhale. He was also impressed that the design for the stove came from a local.

The second day he had his Mom give us a ride up the mountain and it still took 45 minutes. The roads aren’t really made for vehicles to go more than 15 miles per hour. When we got to the house the second day the kids were especially active and playful, so after we got the initial 2 hours of work done he was put in charge or distracting them while Julio and I finished everything up.

His job expanded when a neighbor came by and started asking him hundreds of questions about everything. About an hour into his job as entertainer the kids decided they wanted to learn English, so they got him a pad of paper and a pen and had him start writing words for them to practice. Another 20 minutes later we noticed the neighbor gentleman had gotten hold of the notebook and was writing something with a very serious look. After we notice, one of the kids starts reading it to us, but the guy gets embarrassed and covers the page after we hear “dear friend”. The note, in the end, was something I’m still not sure how to react to. Writing here is not something taken lightly. Kids don’t write each other notes (instead they usually just talk during class) because notes can be taken very seriously. Finally he presents Charles his note that basically explains he is sincere about wanting to be Charles’ friend and the gentleman would appreciate not being forgotten and wants Charles to visit his ranch as soon as possible.

As the day went on the gentleman continued talking to Charles and eventually his real intentions started to show. He wanted to go to the US, and he wanted Charles to give him a job (despite the fact Charles himself was happily unemployed for his years at university). Now having someone ask a North American to take them to the US is pretty normal. I get it weekly from a restaurant owner (who is an awesome guy) who wants to visit his kids, but doesn’t have the visa or the money. He is always joking, but if I took him seriously, he would never decline the offer. I am certain to always keep the conversation joking, since I really like the guy, and I don’t want him to be disappointed when I don’t take him to the states (because I am not going to).

The situation with Charles showed different signals than the usual situation. I can usually blow off any similar request and make it joking, and Charles was trying hard to get back to that sort of feeling, but the guy was earnest and seemed increasingly desperate as time went on. Charles displayed good humor, but he was glad to leave an hour later when the stove was finished. The whole situation was really weird. I’ve never had such a situation happen to me, but I also do a better job blending. I never wear shorts and when I am constructing stoves, I wear my work pants which are covered in mud and a white t-shirt. Charles was wearing a decent shirt and shorts. His accent is also much more obvious (mine is still pretty obvious, but I have a year of practice).

In the end though it is hard to say why he was put in the tough situation while I have always avoided it. Perhaps because Charles was merely on vacation and I am a resident of Honduras. Perhaps my community integration pays off in ways I didn’t expect. Or perhaps he was just playing openly with kids and the guy thought Charles would be easier to convince. The guy made Charles write him a note back, and then the guy asked me to do it. I refused while Charles didn’t. I said I can’t write in Spanish, which in that area of the world is normal for adults. Charles did it thinking it would get the guy off his back a little. Coming from the most privileged nation is something all Americans should all celebrate and never forget. During high school I was a bit of a critic of all things American, but only after having done something like this do I realize that despite all of the flaws, America has obviously done a great deal correctly. Since the whole situation was odd, I think the real reason Charles got asked is because he comes off more like a gringo than me. Regardless, it was the first real reminder I had in a long time that I am still an outsider. I definitely sympathized more with Charles than the neighbor, and I felt bad that he was being harassed about a job on his vacation and I couldn’t really stop it.

We are nearly done with the first community at 39/50, but a long way away from the 250 to complete the project. I am still short a lot of material to start the next community, but I’ll be happy to do it when I get them. In the next community I’ll have a new work partner, and maybe I’ll get to build the walls instead of mix dirt and water, but either way I don’t care. A friend of mine is inviting me to participate in a brigade to build latrines in a couple months and I can’t wait. Latrines are awesome too, but for more obvious reasons.