<\/p>\n
In collaboration with local people, we build innovative and healthy cooking pits for and with poor families in the Boaco region (Nicaragua). The cooking stoves are made from local materials, keep smoke out of the kitchen, reduce wood consumption and are built together with the new owners. <\/p>\n
By combining simple materials, education about the functionality of the cooking pit and the integration of the beneficiaries in the construction process we support independence and health of the people living on Ometepe in the long term.<\/p>\n
Many people, especially in the rural regions of Nicaragua, mainly cook with wood on open cooking pits without the smoke being directed outside. Thus, the smoke spreads throughout the house, affecting everyone inside. The consequences are respiratory diseases, headaches and eye problems. Plastic is often used to light the fire. This makes the gases even more toxic and people are more likely to develop serious respiratory diseases such as lung cancer. Also: families cut down an excessive number of trees to obtain firewood, which reduces the forest population.<\/p>\n