The Safe Stove Project Comes Full Circle

Text and photos by Robyn Nielsen

A little boy posing next to the familys current stove

Tuesday morning the team headed out to Llanos del Pinal to conduct interviews with families interested in joining the Safe Stove Project.

We were welcomed into people's homes and sat down with the women to find out more about their living situations, why they wanted a safe stove, and explained more about the stove building process.

Carmencita explaining the interview process to the first family we visited

I could only stand in the first open-fire kitchen for less than a minute before the smoke began to irritate my eyes, proving I wouldn't last a day doing what an average Guatemala woman does. But nobody should have to live with spending hours in a smoke confined space, although that's the reality for so many women and children here in Guatemala and around the world. This is why I believe the Safe Stove Project is so important and one of my favorite projects to work on.

A pregnant mother and her child by their stove

I have been building stoves for a couple months now, completed a few stoves and met numerous families. The interview process made things come full circle and I'm excited to see the next stage of supply buying with the new stove families and continue to build safer cooking spaces.