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High School Volunteers Head to Guatemala To Build Clean Cookstoves For Families
This past August, a group of Los Angeles County high school students, accompanied by our office assistance Luigi Luciano, spent one week in Solola, Guatemala building clean cookstoves for families. In rural villages, many families still cook using traditional indoor stoves that emit toxic fumes and can contribute to a number of diseases such as lower respiratory infections, asthma, and emphysema. The stoves also require firewood, which children often walk miles each day to gather, leaving them vulnerable physical assaults and unable to attend school.
Our Project Cookstoves initiative builds brand-new stoves that are safe, energy-efficient, and even double as a dining room table for families to gather around and share meals. The students participated in every aspect of building the stoves, and also met the families and children who would be receiving the new stoves. Each stove costs just $400 and completely changes the life of a family: the parents can cook safely in their homes and the children no longer have to gather wood, so they can attend school. Education is our biggest priority at Good Neighbors: we see is as the number one way to lift families out of poverty and all our projects serve as a way to provide children with better access to education.
To learn more about Project Cookstoves, visit our project page.
See all of the photos from the Guatemala trip! |
