Smokeless kitchens in Peru
Location: Usabamaba, Sacred Valley, Peru
Each system costs about $300 for materials.
Appropriate technology changes lives in Peru ...So using mostly local materials, this new system has allowed smoke to escape, heat to remain, less wood to be burned and hot water to flow.
18 years old Roggue is Quechua and lives in the village of Usabamba. He stood in front of us and very formally explained the details of the new adobe kitchen he had just built. He had gone to a training institute where he has learned about this new appropriate technology. He showed us the orno (oven) which had three levels to it for baking, drying and warming. It was curved and made from adobe (dirt and straw). The design of this particular type of stove is extremely efficient and uses only twigs to cook. The stove warmed the kitchen and dining area by at least 15 degrees which at 13,000 feet is a serious problem in Peru. And, as the young man noted “the cold is hard on our elders and the young”.
Then he began to explain how the stove worked. To the right of the stove was a 10 gallon water container hung on the wall about 2 feet above the stove. There was a tube from the container that allowed water to flow down to the stove where the tube was metal and the water heated and then returned to the container via another tube. From there one more tube lead down to the sink so that gravity fed hot water was available. In addition there was a hood of sorts above the stove that collected the smoke and released it outdoors. In most homes the smoke collects in the thatch rafters making soot in the home a problem and causing lung problems for family members.
So using mostly local materials, this new system has allowed smoke to escape, heat to remain, hot water to flow and less wood to be burned. I watched and listened and my mind was racing…. What would it take to get this in all the homes of Usabamba? There are 30 families in this high altitude impoverished village and Crooked Trails is committed to build a eco-friendly kitchen in each one. Each system costs about $300 for materials.
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