Hannah Njeri Njuguna 75years old widow and a mother to 10 children is one of the beneficiaries of a Carbon Zero efficient stove. She lives in Kirenga village in Lari district Aberdares project region. Considering Hannah’s age she is not strong enough to go to the forest so, she wholly relies on buying wood from wood vendors in Kambaa a few kilometers from her home – though this is expensive for her considering she is doesn’t have a reliable source of income. She says having used a traditional three stone stove previously was pathetic as she used a firewood load of ksh400 which lasted 3days. She says that this was too expensive for her. Currently she narrates that since receiving Carbon Zero stove the firewood load of the same price now lasts for a week. To her this is tremendous change that she even wishes to have received the Carbon Zero stove earlier in her life. She says that it may be difficult for any other person to believe how expensive firewood could be but for her she has experienced it and she can never look back. She says at times she even used to skip meals because of lack of firewood to cook something she cannot do as of now.
The most well-known causes of death in developing countries today include dangers such as unclean drinking water, malnutrition and HIV infection. Cooking, on the other hand, probably would not make the list of recognized killers. However, for the more than 3 billion people who stand over fires to cook every day, preparing food poses just such a life-threatening risk. Hannah says that previously while using three stone fires she experienced persistent eye irritation due to excessive produced, coughing, tingling and numbness thus forcing her to visit the hospital most of the times. She added that chest problems as a result threatened her health but since got the energy efficient stove her health has stabilized.
She further says that using a CZK stove has also created her some time to supervise casuals on her farm hence able to enhance her farming activities.
Armed with newer, more efficient stoves Carbon Zero Kenya continues its work in the community to touch lives and impact society.
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