52 Justa Stove Completed and Working

With 52 of the planned 60 Justa stoves now completed and in operation, Nelson Martinez and I returned to Planes on November 30.  We spent 5 days meeting with people in Planes and Playitas and surveying how they feel about their new stoves.  Most of the stoves have been in operation for a month or so, thus we felt that the women who use them would now be able to give us valuable feedback.  [Note: The stoves for the 8 remaining homes in the Planes Project are expected to be completed during the next 2 weeks.  Because of their location, the materials for these stoves have to be delivered to a different location using a different road, located on the other side of the mountain, to make mule transport more manageable.]

Because the houses of Planes are so widely dispersed, we spent two and a half days hiking through the steep terrain to each of the homes to interview the women who do the cooking.  In 28 of the 32 homes that already have completed stoves, we were able to interview the household cook.  No one was home at 3 of the homes (coffee harvesting has just commenced and many people had gone to fincas in the region to earn some income), and in another the brand new stove had not yet been used.  On another day we hiked down to Playitas, where the homes are closer to one another, and interviewed women in 17 homes located there.  No one was at home in one of the houses there.

We employed a brief questionnaire to obtain feedback on a few key topics:

• How often each owner uses her Justa stoves
• How she feels about the new stove
• Does it work well?
• Does the smoke leave the house through the chimney as intended?
• Is it easy to ignite?  How does it compare with her old stove?
• Does it heat rapidly?  How does it compare with her old stove?
• Is she content with the cooking surface (the plancha) and is it big enough?
• Is the heat well dispersed across the surface of the plancha?
• Whether she has noted a change in the quantity of firewood she is using
• Whether she has any problems with, suggestions for, or questions about the new stove

The response received was extremely gratifying, both because the people were so friendly, welcoming and grateful, and because they were without exception very happy with their new stoves.  All of the women report that:

• they use the stove daily
• the stoves are a great improvement
• the smoke now is all going out the chimney
• the Justa stove is easier to ignite
• the plancha heats up rapidly
• the plancha is very nice and sufficiently large
• the heat is distributed well over the plancha’s surface
• they are using far less firewood

Construction defects were observed in just 2 of the stoves.  These stoves will be repaired within the next few days.

All of the interviews were conducted in the kitchen, and in many instances the stove was in operation with an active fire burning within.  We can report with certainty that virtually all of the smoke that used to fill the kitchens is now exiting through the chimneys.  Below is an array of photographs of women/families standing next to their new stoves:

  

Doña Antonia (a Community Health Worker)

 and Don Ismael Ramirez Alvarado

José Cruz del Cid and Family

They Generously Provide Us Tortillas Daily

Donaldo del Cid Guzmán

and Part of His Family

Juan Angel Ferrera (a Community Health Worker), 

Wife Valerina and Two of Their Children

They Plan to Add onto Their House 

to Encompass the Justa Stove

Doña Olga Ferrera (a Community Health Worker)

and Three of Her Children

Ivis Argueta (the Plumber for the PlanesWater Project)

and His Growing Family

Vivian Hernandes and Wife Guiermina Tejada 

of Playitas with Family

In a small number of instances, the homeowners decided not to remove their old stoves until they had some experience with the new stove.  With one exception, they told us that they plan to remove the old stove because they would never use it again. 

The one exception is interesting.  Although she uses her new Justa stove to cook everything else, Isolina Guzman Ramos says she likes to use her old stove to cook frijoles in her well-worn round-bottom clay pot.  She prefers the taste of frijoles cooked in a clay pot over frijoles cooked in a metal one.  Because the new stove has a flat steel plancha as the cooking surface, she cannot set her round-bottom clay pot on it.  We need to investigate whether flat-bottom clay pots are available! 

Isolina’s experience is especially interesting to us, however, because of something that is demonstrated in the photographs.  You will note that in the photographs above, the air in the kitchen is clear and clean – there is no evidence of smoke.  In contrast, take a look at the two photos of Isolina’s kitchen below and note the evident smoke in the air.  While we were there, she was cooking frijoles with her old stove, in the same kitchen where her new stove is located.

Doña Isolina Guzman Ramos

Putting Wood into Fire in Old Stove

  

Doña Isolina with Her New Justa Stove

Notice the Smokey Air from the Old Stove

After completing the interviews in each of the 45 homes visited, Nelson and I held community-wide meetings in Playitas and Planes with all who could attend.  The principle objective of the meeting was to provide detailed instruction on the cleaning and maintenance of the stoves, which entails a number of procedures to be followed at least weekly.  We also took the opportunity to compliment the community on its efforts and to emphasize that the project had proven so successful because they had worked together for a common purpose.  In turn, the community expressed its sincere gratitude to the Virginia Medical Center Brigade, the Lions Club of Comayagua, and the office of Mayor Carlos Miranda of Comayagua for providing the material support required to accomplish so much in so little time.

The First Two Stoves Are Up and Running

The stoves in the school kitchen and the church kitchen were completed on September 27, 2011.  After letting the concrete and mortar cure for a few days, Nelson traveled back to Planes yesterday to inspect them and try them out.  He reports that they are beautiful and work perfectly.  They require far less fuel than the existing stoves, are far easier to start up because they use smaller pieces of wood, and the stove top (the plancha) heats up very quickly.

Nelson also reports that the masons have already completed more than 25 of the mesas (or tables) on which the stoves rest.  They are way ahead of schedule, something you do not often see in construction projects.

A few pictures are posted below so you can have a look.

 Mason Placing Insulating Ash Around

Firebox inside New School Kitchen Stove

The completed School Kitchen Stove

Mason Don Francisco with Don Ismael and Don Juan

 Starting the First Fire in the School Kitchen Stove

Mason Don Francisco Starting the First Fire

in the Church Kitchen Stove

Two Masons, Don Nelson, Don Ismael and Don Juan

in School Kitchen with New Stove Heating

Lead Mason Walking by School Ktichen 

with Smoke from New Stove Pouring Out

New School Kitchen Chimney with Smoke Pouring Out

Chimney of Church Kitchen Stove

Justa Stove Project: September 2011 Report

I traveled to Comayagua on September 21, 2011, to work with Nelson Martinez to complete delivery of the first wave of materials and to begin the construction phase of the Justa Stove Project in Planes and Playitas. Playitas is located a steep two kilometers down the mountainside to the west of of Planes.  The Project plans to build Justa stoves in each of the approximately 60 houses of Planes and Playitas.

Church and Brigade Clinic in Planes

The materials required to build the stoves includes cement, sand, concrete block, brick, steel rebar, construction wire, a steel "plancha," galvanized steel chimney lengths, wood (for concrete forms), and nails, as well as a variety of tools.  The following day we drove to the highest point we could reach by road, due to adverse weather conditions typical of the rainy season, and hiked up to Planes from there.  This spot happens to be where the first of the houses of Planes is located.  Nelson and I stayed in Planes for the next three days and nights.

Delivery of the first wave of materials had begun under Nelson's supervision a few days before my arrival.  Nelson drove some of the lighter materials himself, but the heavier materials, i.e., the ones being provided by the municipality, were delivered in a truck owned by the Comayagua Department of Public Health.   The materials were unloaded at the same house on the edge of Planes, and from there they had to be hauled up to Planes where they were stored awaiting our arrival.  

Road up to Planes from Don Donaldo's House

Packing Bricks and Loading Mules

Next to the School

Mules Packed and Ready to Go Next to the School

Mules Loaded with Brick

Heading to House Up the Mountainside

The hauling of the materials was done entirely by the people of Planes and Playitas, using mules and their own back.  Anyone who has hiked that last stretch of the trip to Planes knows that it is a very steep pitch, and during the rainy season, it is quite muddy and slippery.  Needless to say, getting all of these various materials up to Planes was quite a logistical feat, and it was entirely organized and managed by Nelson.  He has done a phenomenal job in getting this all accomplished, especially in light of all of the obstacles that have been encountered along the way. 

Fortuitously, the Mayor of Comayagua was visiting Planes the day we arrived.  As a result, all of the people of Planes were present in the town center when we arrived.  We took advantage of the opportunity to convene a meeting of all of the adults in which we discussed the ongoing delivery of materials, their responsibility to provide sand and ash needed for construction, and the Justa Stove Project generally.  We also introduced the masons retained for the Project and explained the need for cooperation and mutual support. 

Nelson Leading Pre-construction Meeting

Masons, Left Foreground, Are Introduced

Upon our arrival in Planes, we learned that the Department of health truck had a tire blowout on its return trip from the first large delivery for the project.  They advised that they did not have sufficient funds to replace the tire, and that as a result it would have to be decommissioned until they received an additional appropriation, a process likely to  take months.  We decided that, in light of the fact that we were saving so much by using their truck rather than hiring a private vehicle and driver, we should use some of our contingency funds to buy a used tire for the Department (about $100), so that we could keep our project moving forward.  As a show of gratitude for our donation, the Department's truck driver worked on Saturday (not a usual work day) to deliver us the first 1,000 bricks.

It was truly extraordinary to work with the people of Planes and Playitas that Saturday and to see both how hard they worked and how well they were organized in unloading the truck, packing 1,000 bricks onto 25 mules, and making repeated trips up to the village to unload and stack them.  By the next day, all of the bricks were transported to individual houses where stoves will be built, scattered over a considerable distance in the mountains surrounding Planes.  Don Ismael, a citizen of Planes, was put in charge of maintaining a comprehensive list of materials distributed with the name of the owner of each house receiving block, cement, rebar and brick, with the steel parts to be delivered later.  It was both extremely impressive and gratifying.  Their efforts allowed the four masons we have retained to begin work building the stoves immediately.

The masons began the construction work right away, including demolition of existing stoves, layout, installation of a concrete foundation, construction of a block and concrete table (a "mesa") on which the stove is placed, and finally construction of the stove itself.  Over the three days that we were there, the masons built all or part of seven mesas.  In accordance with our plan, the first construction was in the "public areas" -- the kitchens of the church and the school, so that we could provide a demonstration for the people of Planes of the stoves they would soon receive.  Mothers come to the school kitchen every school day, on a rotating basis, to prepare lunch for all of the school children.  Once the Brigade's supplies are delivered this October, they will also begin preparing a hot cereal breakfast each school day.  

 

Lead Mason and Me While Demolishing

the Existing Kitchen in the Church

Masons Setting Lines for Lay Out

for School Kitchen Stove

Masons Don Miguel and Don Francisco

and First Course of Block atop Footer

Completed Table Legs

Lead Mason and Don Francisco Troweling Concrete

for Tabletop of Church Stove

Finished Table for Church Kitchen Stove

Masons Laying First Course of Bricks

for Church Stove

During our last afternoon there, they began construction of the first stove, one in the church in the center of Planes, when we realized that we would need to make several design changes to accommodate variations in materials. The biggest problem is that the bricks provided by the municipality turned out to be an inch wider, a half inch thicker and a half inch longer than specified.  Thus, we literally had to go back to the drawing board and recalculate all of the required measurements and come up with a way to make the materials work.  We worked through all of these issues that evening and early the next morning, when Nelson and I had to return to Comayagua. 

The next day, the lead mason called to advise Nelson that evening that the new design had worked perfectly, and they had completed the brickwork and concrete stove-top both in church and in the school.  The day after driving me to the airport, Nelson returned to Planes to deliver the final pieces required to complete the stoves, the rounded bricks with a four-inch hole in the center which sit directly beneath the galvanized steel chimney.   

Carrying Chimney Support Brick

Don Ismael in Center

(Nelson's Dog Lucky Leads the Way)

The masons then completed the two stoves.  Nelson plans to return to Planes once again this Saturday (October 1), after allowing the concrete and mortar on the two stoves to cure for a couple of days, so that he can actually build a fire in them to confirm that they perform as intended.   

Stove Built, Awaiting Center Brick and Chimney

Donations

Donations for the Honduras Stove Project may be made by going to: http://www.vhcmedicalbrigade.org/donate-now/

By including the notation on your check "For Honduras Stove Project," you can ensure that your gift will be directed to the Project.  Should you wish to make a donation to the Virginia Hospital Center Medical Brigade for the Brigade's general purposes, simply omit the notation.  All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permissible by law.  Your gift will be put to good use and will be very much appreciated!