Projects: Haiti - 05 • Mali - 08 - 09 • Bolivia - 07 - 09
Kyoto Twist Project in Haiti, 2005
Tiplas, Haiti Project with Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT)
Kyoto Twist launched its first project with Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT). Their mission is to help improve the quality of life for poor and underprivileged in the world and to assist the victims of natural and man-made disasters. A solar cooker project fit in with their experience in Haiti where deforestation has occurred to the point that cooking fuel is scarce, dangerous levels of soil erosion create a risk to agriculture, and important fruit trees are in danger of disappearing altogether from the landscape. A common cooking fuel there is charcoal. Workers walk high into the mountains to find trees. The wood is cut and placed in large pits, where it is first burned and then covered with earth and allowed to smolder. Three-quarters of the heating potential of the wood is lost when it is made into charcoal.
AMURT has been working in Haiti for over fifteen years and conducted a successful solar cooker program in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The Ananda Marga team was involved in the second year of a community development project in the northwest region of Haiti where desert conditions exist and cooking fuel is a serious problem. AMURT applied to the Kyoto Twist to fund a project for ten families in the village of Tiplas.
The workshop participants were selected on the basis of need and commitment to use and promote solar cooker knowledge. The training was conducted in the village of Source-Chaudes in the northwest part of Haiti. Ten women were selected and given a three-day solar cooking seminar. Each participant received a solar cooker and two black cooking pots. Over three days, participants learned cooking preparation, recipes, and environmental education.
The solar cooker type used in this project was a box-type with reflectors. The unit is made in the US of quality materials by Sun Oven and has a use-expectancy of 25 years. The Kyoto Twist has also assisted in training and organizing a workshop in Lambert, Haiti to assemble these cookers. Over a 25-year period, it is estimated that the ovens will be delivered at a cost of $10.00 per family solar cooking year. A conservative estimate of the CO2 savings by each family that cooks a third or more of their meals with the sun is one tonne of emissions per year. This project for 10 families can expect to save 250 tonnes of CO2 emissions over the 25-year lifespan of the cookers. At this minimal rate of usage, emissions will be saved at a rate of ten dollars per tonne.
Save a tonne, Save a life.
