Improved cookstove project continues despite COVID-19

Seeing this picture is just a sheer delight. Children making toy improved cookstoves out of clay, imitating their parents’ activities is incredibly reassuring.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down in many aspects, our partner team working on the improved cookstoves and bio charcoal have quietly continued their work. Focusing on one or two villages at a time, they conducted hands-on demonstration workshops on how to build our improved cookstoves in 10 villages over the last year. And all of this despite all odds. Most of the team teach at the Lycée technique et professionnel Tsiroanomandidy, the only city in their province. Lockdown measures due to COVID-19 have mainly been aimed at the three biggest cities in the country. Consequently all public transportation with buses or mini buses anywhere in the country came to a standstill.

But this did not deter our team. They literally walked to the villages to conduct the improved cookstove workshops. In some cases this added two days to their itinerary - one to walk there and one to walk back.

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