Stove Project

I think I wrote about my first day helping out with this project, building wood burning stoves for families in rural Mayan communities. Most use open flame in there huts which are literally just concrete and a metal roof. The smoke is bad for a number of reasons as children end up with a lot of respiratory infections and irritated eyes, its easy for kids to easily burn themselves and it uses lots of firewood.

This people literally have nothing yet were some of the sweetest and most kind people I have met. The first week we started by laying concrete blocks with cement to form the base of the stove.

The second week we laid 3 levels of brick with cement on the outside and clay on the inside to help keep the heat in evenly.


The following week we laid bricks on the inside, tiles on the outside and put in the stove top with 4 burners. It still is a wood burning stove, because there is no electricity out here, but it burns a lot less and it’s a lot less dangerous than open flames. And of course a little smoke stake out the top of the roof.

It was demanding physical work but I couldn’t help but leave smiling.

I didn't have my camera with me but I will try and find more pics, especially the one of me cutting stone with a machete;)