Most women in rural Zimbabwe cook indoors over an open fire—with dangerous consequences.
Smoke from open fires causes serious heart and lung diseases as well as chronic eye conditions and even blindness. It’s been estimated that open fires produce as much as 400 cigarettes worth of smoke an hour! Open fires also expose women and children to high risks for burns, spread easily to thatched roofs, and promote deforestation, a growing environmental threat in rural areas.
Enter the rocket stove--one of Bopoma Villages' 7 Healthy Home strategies that equip villagers to improve their health and reduce their exposure to disease. Rocket stoves are easy to build with a variety of locally available materials at virtually no cost. Many of the benefits are experienced immediately. In rural Zaka, everyone who sees a rocket stove, wants one and soon builds one!
9 Powerful Reasons to Build a Rocket Stove
Rocket Stoves:
- take cooking outside
- produce substantially less smoke
- use about a third of the wood of open fires
- save women many hours collecting wood
- reduce diseases caused by toxic smoke
- reduce the risk of burns
- reduce the risk of house fires
- cook twice as fast
- reduce deforestation and save the environment.