The Guatemala Stove Project (GSP) is a registered Canadian Charity made up of a small group of North American volunteers. They began working in response to a request for help from CEDEC, an indigenous non-profit group working in Guatemala’s Altiplano (Western Highlands). CEDEC had identified the need for masonry cook stoves in the communities they serve, but residents lacked the human and material resources to build such stoves for themselves. The Guatemala Stove Project was born out of this need. Since those first six stoves in 1999, the GSP has expanded rapidly: now they have built over 3500 stoves.
Just think, each morning three thousand families firing up their stoves, three thousand women not risking blindness while cooking for their families; 18 thousand men, women and children not filling their lungs with toxic smoke every day. Because the stoves burn more efficiently, villagers use only half as many trees for fire wood in an area that is already suffering from deforestation.
Families who participate also commit labor and resources to a co-operative enterprise with other GSP families in the area. Group initiatives such as a market gardens, egg production, or craft co-ops increase village self sufficiency and strengthen the local autonomy. Best of all, they are sustainable.
The stove building has been enhanced by complementary funding, which provides villages with medicine for treatable illnesses. They facilitate networking between the different villages and various medical and fair trade NGOs. The people see an immediate improvement in their health and well being.
The majority of donations to GSP have been made by individual Canadian and American families directly donating to Guatemalan families. In February, the group will be going back to Guatemala for five weeks and during that time will photograph another 500 families standing in front of their new stoves. These pictures, along with the names and ages of the individuals in each Maya family will be presented to the 500 North Americans as a thank you for their generous donations. Many people frame these portraits and hang them in their homes so they can be reminded each day of the other family that is no longer filling their lungs with toxic smoke while cooking the day’s tortillas.
To learn more about the Guatemala Stove Project, please visit their website.
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