Nicaragua
I have just returned from two weeks of travel with StoveTeam’s Board Chair, Kim Forrest, and Christadelphian Meal a Day of the Americas board members to visit all three of our partner projects in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. This month I’m happy to share some of these photos and experiences with you….
Employees of the Avanza Factory in Estelí, Nicaragua
CMADF Board Member Matthew Swift with Elida Olivas, Shelby Kardas & Kim Forrest
The last stop on this journey is Estelí, Nicaragua to visit Elida and Nelson Olivas and our team of stovebuilders at Fabrica Avanza. After a little snag at the airport, we finally arrived at the factory space, and much to our surprise, Elida and Nelson had literally laid out the red carpet …. The factory space was transformed into a party venue, and it looked pretty great! We were in a festive mood after traveling all day and happy to share a great meal and music with the Avanza Factory employees, stovebuilders, and members from two coffee cooperatives who are helping to identify stove recipients in the outlying communities.
The next day, we were back to our purpose and happy to see that Elida Olivas, factory owner, is very successfully selling the portable Ecocina cookstove to local families and that her husband Nelson is applying his many years as a stovebuilder to now oversee the expanding Justa project in Nicaragua. We also announced a new partnership! ClimateHound is now sponsoring the placement of Ecocina cookstoves in Nicaragua to help the food and beverage industry of North America offset its carbon footprint.
ClimateHound founder and CEO Palmer Fox says, "Our company's mission is to help our clients -- from beverage producers and bars to restaurants and food and beverage festivals -- to calculate their impact and reduce it in ways that are meaningful to the planet and to their customers. Nothing could speak to our community more than helping other communities, like those served by StoveTeam, to cook and feed themselves safely, and we are proud to be the exclusive sponsor of Ecocina stove production and distribution in Nicaragua.”
We also had fun doing a live cooking show with a woman entrepreneur who runs a family business cooking and selling hundreds of the Nicaraguan, specialty, nacatamales using her portable, Ecocina cookstove. Click here to see the live recording.
“Nothing could speak to our community more than helping other communities, like those served by StoveTeam, to cook and feed themselves safely.”
One last word about Nicaragua. In every home we visited, we were received with such generosity, and tasty snacks. We met one woman who showed us how she is using her new Justa stove. Her kitchen was warm, full of delicious cooking smells, and it was smoke-free. She prepared a delicious snack of arroz con leche for all of us and her young son. These are the moments that remind us why we do this work.
Doña Érica García prepares arroz con leche in her smoke-free kitchen outside of Estelí, Nicaragua
This was my first time visiting this stunningly beautiful country, and I didn’t want to leave. I hope to return very soon! These trips allow us to monitor the impact that we are having in the communities where we work, to reconnect with our partners and stovebuilders in the field, and deepen our relationships with the communities we serve. We are so thankful at this moment for the generous support of the Christadelphian Meal a Day of the Americas who joined on this trip to see the impact of their contributions first-hand, and as always, we’re so thankful for your support.
You are the reason we are able to bring safe kitchens to families in Latin America. Thank you for following along with us on this journey!
Shelby and the StoveTeam