What are we doing?
About 30 Mayan women in our region have been taught how to weld and in particular how to weld basic Lorena stoves. These stoves will replace open indoor fires. The Lorena stoves consist of a firebox and a chimney to expel smoke. Each stove costs between $18.00 and $22.00 for the sheet metal and stove pipe required to construct a single stove.
There are 306 Mayan mountain communities in our catchment area.. Each community has between 10 and 100 households. We need approximately 4500 stoves for our region
Way are we doing it?
Open fire cooking create many problems in a household.
- - Early blindness in middle age adults
- - Lung diseases, cancers and other diseases
- - Deforestation
- - Dwindling animal habitat
- - Intensive labour gathering firewood, generally done by children.
The new stoves, use 70% less wood and expel wood smoke from the house. This alleviates the above problems to a large extent.
Our Team
I am the only non-native person working with the locals. In fact I am the only North American and English Speaker. I got involved because of a retired priest I met in the Caribbean when on vacation. He founded the organization under whose umbrella I work. I first went to Yajalon, Chiapas, Mexico in 2016. I continue going to the town every year for 6 months, helping out where I can. I have taught English, donated money and set up some fund generating local businesses. This year will be my fourth year and it has become my second lovely paradise home.
The priest was the only fund raiser but died this past winter, so I am trying to make up for the financial shortfall that we are starting to see.
The organization with whom I work is Yashalum de Santiago Apostale A.C.. They were founded in 1993 to provide a way for students to live in the town of Yajalon (pop. 25000). They have aided over 300 Mayan students to complete university and thousands to complete high school or acquire a trade.
This is the only organization available to these 306 communities to help with projects such as clean drinking water=, compostable toilets and Lorena stoves. They do not have the resources to fund this Lorena Stove project, but provided the infrastructure to help manage it.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
We need people who have technical and project expertise.
We need tourists. This area is a paradise. It is off the beaten path and despite the fact it is four hours from one of the best }Mayan Ruins, San Cristobal de Las Casas, and incredible waterfalls and pools of pristine mountain water, we are 90 minutes off the major highway and have only started to build some tourist infrastructure. The beauty is breathtaking. Wild orchids, dot the mountain landscape. No sandy beaches, but mountain horseback riding. No nightclubs, but a safe, very safe co immunity and a very gentle people. No drug problems.
We need money to purchase sheet metal and welding supplies. We have the welding equipment.
