Cooking with the Sun Saves Women's Lives

SI UN Rep/NY Lois Beilin reports on a recent session she attended, hosted by Solar Cookers International:

Cooking with solar cookers is a powerful tool for saving women and girls from dangerous and time consuming forays to collect fire wood, for curbing the smoke inhaled from wood fires, for saving the forests, and allowing girls to attend school and women to engage in other useful activities. It saves WOMEN AND GIRLS AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

The sun may be available in many countries for nearly 3/4 of the year and in some, every day of the year. For example, a project in Kenya, Traditional Birth Attendants which provides care during pregnancy and childbirth, uses simple cookers to provide hot water and pasteurization of drinking water. Countries that suffer from severe deforestation, such as Haiti, are finding a way to feed vulnerable people while using the sustainable technology of a solar cooker. World Central Kitchen has organized projects in the villages of Haiti.

This powerful simple tool is comparable to the malaria NET in alleviating serious problems for women and girls in developing countries, allowing time for school attendance and other productive activities. Costs of the simplest form of solar cooker start at $25 and go up to $280. for a deluxe model. For examples and additional information on solar cookers see: www.solarcookers.org