Kopernik

We are pleased to publish this very special post from our partner tech provider Greenway Grameen Infra, with whom we are working to distribute their award-winning Greenway Smart Stove in Madhya Pradesh, India. The project for this improved cookstove distribution, Smarter Cooking for Indian Women, was proposed by our partner tech seeker Haritika.

Greenway Smart Stove Demo in Chhatarpur

As our first project with Kopernik and Haritika, we at Greenway were extremely excited about meeting our customers and demonstrating our product to them.  To make best of this opportunity, the stove’s designer Mr. Shoeb Kazi decided to undertake the journey and the demonstration himself. More from Shoeb:

Haritika’s operations are in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, literally translating into the ‘middle kingdom’, and their motive from this project is to introduce clean cooking stoves in Chattarpur district, located at the North Eastern border of the state that can be reached by road only. The nearest airport is Khajuraho, which has daily flights from Delhi, and the nearest railway stations are Khajuraho (45 km), Harpalpur (55 km), Jhansi (125 km) and Satna (140 km), indicating that this area of work is relatively remote.  Post reaching the nearby town of Jabalpur, I took a train to Harpalpur, a small station with only one train per day on this route, and then a 90-minute, tedious bus ride to Chhatarpur given the poor conditions of the local road. From Chhatarpur I had to board another bus ride again to Bijawar, which is the small town where Haritika’s office is located, but this time it was a two hour long journey.  Relaxed and relieved upon reaching my destination despite the 44C temperature, I was told that the demonstration location is further off at Chandanpur!

Chandanpur

Chandanpur is a remote village, which is about 32 kms away from Bijawar. It is sparsely populated, off-the-grid, and generally very difficult to reach the village. My ride from Bijawar to here was on a two-wheeler riding pillion with a Haritika associate through the dense Panna forest, which is inhabited by wild bears, amongst many other species.

Upon arriving, the associate immediately gathered a crowd of 12 local women for the demonstration. Having worked in the area for many years, Haritika is well-known to everyone and the women were keen to learn about this new initiative.  We used the wood that was gathered from a nearby courtyard  to kindle the stove, with the help of a few drops of kerosene. We explained the procedure of operation as well as how the stove functions to the people who have gathered there . Tea was then prepared within 7 minutes with only 4 slender woodsticks on the Smart stove, thanks to the help of a volunteer. I asked the ladies what was most cumbersome when they are cooking and the unanimous answer was making rotis (Indian bread)* – to this effect I placed a tawa on the stove for making rotis and showed that with this stove, it can be quite easy.

The women were generally shy and spoke a different dialect.  As it is common tradition for the region, nearly all women cover their faces in public.  It was difficult to understand what they were talking about amongst themselves but the Haritika associate helped with translating the queries and comments they posed. They appreciated the look of the stove and noticed that it used much lesser fuel to cook with, without any need for chopping/processing fuel.  One of the ladies asked if the stove could cook for a family of 5-6 persons, to which I replied yes and told them that they could easily place up to 25 kgs on the stove.

Since it was difficult to talk to women directly, I asked the associate and the men present at the demonstration about the product. They praised the product and said that the women also liked it.  The product’s looks were very appealing to them, along with the fact that compared to mud stoves, the flame is contained and hence safer cooking.  While making tea, I invited the ladies to come and use the stove themselves; one lady came up and adjusted the wood to see the effect on the flame and lifted the vessel a few times to see the flame more clearly.

Kasera

After the demo in Chandanpur, the associate accompanied me to another remote village called ‘Kasera’, which was about 60 km from Chandanpur. This road was again through the Panna forest. We reached late in the evening—in other words, when most people have retired to the residences—but the associate again managed to quickly gather a crowd of about 12 people for another demonstration.

Despite being further far off from Chandanpur, the women in Kasera were very outspoken and quick to ask questions. Many of the questions asked were about the emissions, fuel consumption and quantity of food that can be prepared.  I asked the ladies to judge the fuel consumption themselves as I lit the stove, and upon seeing the stove burning only a few slim wood pieces, they remarked  that this stove requires drastically less wood for fuel. A lady then volunteered to make rotis on the stove.

She was at ease while preparing rotis and noted that she didn’t feel the discomfort that she experiences everyday with her mud stove. When I asked what types of discomfort she typically faces, she answered that she did not like the “smokiness” of her mud stove nor the need to constantly adjust the fire (as there are risks of it spreading away from the stove area).  She paused, and then added that with the Greenway stove there was also no need to blow air into the fire.

The other women watched the demo in awe and excitement. One of them asked her husband to buy her the stove immediately. They saw the utility value and were willing to buy.

Overall, I had a wonderful experience traveling through Chattarpur into such remote areas and interacting with local women.  It was enriching and endearing to witness their delight upon seeing our stove and at the prospect of having one very soon!

*Preparing roti is the most tedious job in cooking for Indian homes. You have to first prepare the dough, then make them circular in shape. Meanwhile you have to keep adjusting the woodsticks for better flame because neither a very big fire nor very small fire is ideal for to preparing rotis. An optimum fire that will heat the tawa evenly is required. In low heat, rotis tend to stick to the pan and get spoiled. Hence women find the task cumbersome.

By Imanta Kasih Sembiring, Kopernik Field Staff

This is my second visit to East Flores and I am very glad to be back here again to work with these wonderful women. Recently Pekka, Kopernik’s local partner in East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara received over 1,200 units of technologies from Kopernik to be disseminated to its members - women who are heads of households. These technologies include Nazava Water Filters, UB.03-1 Biomass Stoves and d.light solar lights. You can read more about this technology dissemination on our previous blog post Women in East Flores Are Now Using Life-changing Technologies.

A common mean of transportation to a village in Demon Pagong, East Flores

In February, I came here as a volunteer and stayed for about two weeks to assist Kopernik to conduct a Baseline Survey. But my visit this time is longer and even more rewarding. I am here to train the women on the proper usage, maintenance, repair and warranty systems of these technologies. This training is a follow up step of the project following the distribution of the technologies. We want to make sure that the technology users understand how the technologies work, how to maintain them and what to do when the technologies are not working properly. We also want the technology users get the maximum benefits of the technologies to improve their life.

We make sure each participant knows how to properly install the Nazava Water Filter

Training the women on how to maintain the UB.03-1 Biomass Stove

Every day I go to different villages to train the women. Every trip to the training location is an exciting adventure for me. I love the beauty of East Flores. It comprises of mountainous islands surrounded by the magnificent ocean. Some of the women I train are very old and sometimes someone has to translate into the local language during the training. Kopernik and Pekka have developed a system that combines payment by installments and partial subsidy. By not distributing the technologies for free, the women have a sense of ownership towards the technologies. In every training I give, I can see that the women are enthusiastic about getting new knowledge about the technologies they now own.

Each woman takes part in unlocking the d.light S10 solar light to replace the battery

Happy women with their own products  

I also get a lot of feedback from the women which really inspires me and makes my work meaningful. After delivering a training on the UB.03-1 Biomass Stove recently, Agnes Rawa Dore a 54 year old lady from Demon Pagong came up to me and said, "I never imagined that cooking could be so easy and efficient with fuels that are available around me. I love this cook stove". This kind of testimony makes me smile at the end of a training. I will post more about my activities from East Flores soon.

Photos by Pekka and Iman