A documentary of David Panxa Fabregas

Based on an idea by Elena Carrillo, Jon de la Rica

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My name is Maria Paola Duarte Exebarria and I live in the district of La Prusia.

So I feel good with my family, my husband and my daughter and one I'm expecting, right?

Here in La Prusia there are a lot of families that have, suffer from asthma, they are alergic to smoke,

Hello, my name is Marta Alguera, I am asmathic.

And I'm gonna reduce this illness I have, of the crisis of asthma, the asthma

bothers me with the smoke, every time I cooked that smoke expanded everywere and that affected me.

I am Yader, she is my wife Maria Isabel, I have three kids: Angel, Yajaira and Jorge.

For my kids, for my husband, for my family and my neighbors too,

because the smoke that extends everywhere gets the houses of neighbors and as it bothers us, so it bothers them.

And one says how come this heat? One thinks that we harm the environment.

Wood is not chopped, better it's planted.

Hello my name is Vilma del Carmen Castillo,

I live in La Prusia, a community from the Municipality of Granada.

The little girl suffers from neumonia, they forbidden smoke, dust.

She is 5 years old.

Smoke affects the girl, and deforestation, thus the environment.

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During the day, as homemaker, I broom the courtyard, tidy the rooms, wash the clothes, cook;

after that my girls come from school, I give them lunch:

rice, beens, sometimes I give them meat, and sometimes cream with rice.

My husband gets the firewood from the forest, from the trees, when the trees have dry branches then he cuts them.

We go on weekends when he has time, we go on Saturdays to search for firewood and we get two big bunches of firewood.

I cook in this kitchen of three rocks and firewood.

Sometimes my oldest girl cooks, I was worried that the pot falls on her.

The smoke affects the girl and me, not because doctors haven't tell me as smoke affects me.

And the deforestation, the environment, we have to protect it.

The Fogones (stove) project originates from an environmental perspective.

As the project takes shape we realize, talking with the community,

that for them the important issue is their health in regards to the smoke.

The cooking conditions are without chimney at open-fire, and the women spend many hours in front of that fire,

so obviously the smoke originates a lot of illnesses and long-term problems.

The investment made in a home, where does it go to?.

what started being an enviromental problem, ended up being a social problem.

Well, the idea was to make a project of cheap, very cheap improved stove.

We thought that we wanted it to be a project opened to the biggest number of people and for that it had to be vey economic,

then we thought that what is most economic than the soil which is free.

It costs 700 pesos, so for me it's cheap

so we set as a goal that it cost less than USD 40 which is the price of a buddle, which is something any family has in their house, right?

The idea was that people themselves build the stove.

To learn to make the adobe, we had to take a course.

To, to learn mixture of...to make adobe.

In regards to adobe, I had never had this experience, I had idea of seeing it, but...

experience of practicing with my hands, make a work like that never before.

We always found with the challenge that...that they didn't feel capable due to the insecurity they felt.

They said: I can't, I can't, I can't.

I was desperate because she told us what we had to do for the test of raw, so,

that if the soil had enough clay or little clay, the mixture, making things easy, we made things right.

There were many people that when I was about to make the model, so...

they helped because with what we have made was not enough.

Thus I appreciate those people who came over to...when I needed it, because the same way they helped me, when the opportunity comes, I will help them.

We made it among many hands, not only us. We put many hands to build it, so I feel proud to tell it.

Sometimes, well, in fact we are not accustomed to work as a team, and...

in the stove project, well, we learned to work as a team with the community.

So the purpose with the participative design was that this stove, in addition to be effective, it adapts to...

to what people was accustomed to, right?

So they can cook as they used to do but in a healthier way and more economic in firewood.

We built a pilot stove, and then they came and said

“no, we don't like this and that”

then, we said well, it has to be changed, we have to change how to adapt the stove to the needs they have.

I was one with the opinion of making the hole a little bit bigger.

And where the cooked brick has to be placed, and we also said to change it for this plate that the stove currently has.

They don't have economic provision, so,

somehow the husband had to approve the investment of that very little money, because it was USD 25.

I don't think that these women's husbands are 100% aware of the benefits of this stove.

Because it is not a reality they have to live.

As it was something of the women, husbands didn't care.

There was more support of women than men. But indeed there were men, but there were more women.

He thought that he was interested, that it was a beautiful idea, but he said he would support me and...

few times he helped me, like two times he helped me to riddle the soil, nothing else.

But he didn't help on building it up.

Here in Nicaragua it is seen that women have to cook, she has to be in the house.

I think it is an idea coming from machism and because it is also somenthing we are interested in,

to me as a women and as a homewife, right?

And well, I think that is the way for the project to last in time.

the most important thing is not the number of stoves we have built but having,

somehow, planted the seed to make these women understand that they can cook in a different way.

If any neighbor or some acquaitance would tell me I need you to help me build a stove,

well, I am willing to help.

Yes, I feel proud of making it happen, because as I told you I learned things I didn't know and

I have the option and opportunity in case another family or....or someone else who wants to have a stove,

I have the knowledge and know how to help them build it.

At last I have it today, I feel happy and blissful, I am not cooking on the floor anymore,

I'm going to cook with my new kitchen.

So we improve our health.

The ceiling is not damaged, the smoke goes upwards, no...

the kids are not affected at all.

and no smoke, the house doesn't look smoked as I have it.

I am very happy with my stove, I think that everything it has as it is, it is good,

it's according to my ideas, with my needs.

They researched about how it can be made so that

we overcome the difficulties that we had with our kitchens and

they thought about us, well, about our health.

I thought it was the same, something temporary, only to know the way we live...how we make it, our live, our, our living.

Not...never thought it was something so real.