Masariel is a 91-year-old widowed mother of four. She lives in two separate huts in a family of four. She is a pensioner. She uses paraffin and LPG for cooking. She therefore has nothing to do but to try and save what little she manages to buy by using an open fire. Collecting firewood, setting up the fire and doing the actual cooking demands a lot of her time.
Masariel has requested a loan from Kiva lenders in order to be able to purchase clean cookstoves, which will provide her and nine other people from her village, who are living in the same circumstances, the chance of cooking in a way that does not harm them and their families. It also does not require a lot of wood, which is hard to find in Lesotho, nor expensive paraffin and gas.
This stove can be started with the use of very little, readily available biomass like dry twigs and dry cow dung that do not require lengths of time to collect. It does not produce smoke while burning, thus making it safe to be used inside the home. This stove comes with a solar panel for charging the battery that runs the fan in the stove, a USB port for charging phones and a mini LED lamp.
For more information on the stove, please visit www.africancleanenergy.com.
In this group: Marethabile, Marelebohile, Lehlohonolo, Maliau, Lineo, Mamolato, Matsepo, Masebabe, Mapoloko*, Masariel
*not pictured