Rachel (LGH Uganda Staff) and I arrived in Kisumu and met with John and Marion, Solar Cooker International (SCI) employees. The focus of their project is to promote sustainable cooking methods: traditional fixed and portable earthenware stoves, called upesi in Kiswahili, which use charcoal or wood as fuel. We are most interested in solar reflectors (the CookIt) and fireless baskets. John and Marion openly shared their progress as well as the challenges they face in promoting sustainable cooking methods to the local population through demonstrations and training sessions as well as producing and selling each type of cooker. Early the following morning, we drove with John and Marion to a village outside of Kisumu to meet a group of women who purchased CookIts from SCI in December and see the solar cookers in action. The women we met were relatively new to solar cooking and have practiced cooking rice, beans, and vegetables with their CookIts only a few times. Marion's role is to follow up with these women at their homes and support them in integrating the solar cooking process into their lives. Rachel and I learned that moving from cooking with charcoal and wood to solar cooking is a leap of faith. John and Marion explained that when they conduct solar cooking demonstrations many observers think that the cooker has magic or is a hoax. They explained that seeing (or eating in this case ) is believing.

In the afternoon, we visited solar cooking experts: women (and one man) who have been trained by SCI to do demonstrations and assist John and Marion in spreading the message of sustainable cooking in their local communities. We were excited to see the fireless cooker basket at work. The fireless cooker is a regular wicker basket that is lined with dense, insulating fabric (the waste from cotton and blanket production in this case), a layer of plastic, and fabric. A pillow made of the same materials is placed on top. We saw the basket used to cook rice. First the rice and water are boiled over a wood or charcoal stove for ten minutes. Then the entire covered pot is placed in the fireless cooker for an additional 20-30 minutes. The insulated basket traps the heat and cooks the rice perfectly with one third of the fuel used in normal cooking. The experts explained the fireless basket can be used in the same manner for meat, fish, and beans. After visiting with many experts, we met with the entire group for a solar cooked lunch and a question and answer session. We ate delicious stewed and dry roasted meat, rice, ugali (posho), hard eggs, and cake all made with the CookIts. During discussion we learned that many people were initially attracted to solar cooking not because of the possibility of saving money by buying less fuel or the health benefits of indoor smoke reduction, but because solar reflectors can bake cakes. Cake is seen as both a "rich person food" and an entrepreneurial plan: cakes are sold for weddings and birthdays. Most people cannot make high quality cakes because of the irregular temperatures of charcoal and wood stoves, but solar cookers bake perfect, moist cakes with very little worry of burning or overcooking.

We are very grateful to John and Marion and their team in Kisumu as well as Stella in Nairobi for being wonderful hosts and teachers. We look forward to their visit for four days at the end of March when they will bring CookIts and fireless baskets to Jinja and demonstrate first-hand their effectiveness to all of our employees.

Light Gives Heat has received an $8,000 grant to supply our Uganda Artisans with these solar cookers. As stated by Amberle above, Solar Cooker International will be conducting a 4-day training period in Jinja at the end of this month.