Doña Teresa received the 2nd Justa stove ever built by StoveTeam in Guatemala.
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. I love being in the field because it reminds me WHY we do this work. As we move into the New Year, we wanted to share some of these photos and stories with you.
Guatemala
During this trip, we visited stove participants to see how these new stoves are changing lives. We visited the home of one of our very first Justa stove recipients in Guatemala, Doña Theresa. She told us that “she loves her new stove because the smoke no longer burns her eyes, and she saves so much wood.”
I was especially excited to participate in a Maestros Comaleros stove builder training academy. The Maestros Comaleros stove builder training academy is an intensive, three-day endeavor that pairs classroom theory with two days of hands-on building. Eighteen stove builders from Guatemala and El Salvador (17 men, and 1 woman) gained skills to educate families about the danger of open-fire cooking, the health and economic benefits of adopting the new stove, and the technical aspects of stove design. I am so impressed with the organization of this training, but mostly with our Guatemalan and El Salvadoran stove builders and trainers who are eager to learn and become masters at their skill. The technical part of this training is being led by 2 of our most successful women stovebuilders, Bety and Anibela.
“I love being in the field because it reminds me WHY we do this work, and it’s wonderful to share our progress with our long-time supporters.”
Meet the Trainers
Santos, graduated from the Maestros Comaleros training earlier in 2022. Santos has been building stoves in his home community of San Martín Jilotepeque, and was recently asked to participate in this Maestros Comaleros training as a trainer. When he is not training new stovebuilders, or building new stoves, he is in charge of doing one-week follow-up visits on new stoves to ensure quality control and to collect surveys that help us analyze our adoption.
Click on this link to see Santos in action with several of his trainees building a stove inside a home.
StoveTeam’s women stovebuilders build a justa stove during Maestros Comaleros training
One of StoveTeam’s absolute superstars is Anibela. Our entire group was blown away by her enthusiasm and positive attitude. Watching Anibela work truly shows the nature of the Maestros Comaleros program which is intended not only to provide gainful employment and technical skill, but to encourage entrepreneurship in individuals.
Anibela is also a recent graduate of the Maestros Comaleros program, and due to her amazing work ethic and enthusiasm, she has quickly become one of our best stovebuilders and has been promoted to supervisor and trainer.
Anibela is just one of the women who make up our star stovebuilding team. We know that women are part of the solution, and we are building a stellar team of women stovebuilders and promoters who are essential to encouraging other women to adopt new technology. The best part of the training for me was the graduation. Seeing so many proud and happy faces also made me happy.
In this photo left to right: Master Stovebuilders & Trainers, Anibela and Bety, new Maestra Comalera, Sylvia, Administrative Assistant in the Guatemala office, Rossi, and Guatemala Operations Director, Waleska.
““In the future, we hope to attract more women to this work, because women are awesome stovebuilders!”
Soon we will leave Guatemala, and head to Sonsonate, El Salvador to visit the factory of StoveTeam’s long-time factory partner Gustavo Peña. We hope you will continue to join us on this journey. Stay tuned…..
