By Alieu Ceesay
In an effort to uplift rural communities, DelAgua has provided efficient cooking stoves to women in remote areas through a heartwarming initiative.
The DelAgua team was warmly welcomed by the beneficiaries, who demonstrated the impactful use of these stoves, sharing their firsthand experiences of how this innovative solution has expedited their cooking process and catalyzed positive change in their daily lives.
Jalima Cham, a beneficiary from Jarra Pakalinding, Kanteh Kunda, expressed her satisfaction with the stoves, stating they are excellent and fast. She also mentioned experiencing improved health since using them, specifically noting a reduction in constant coughing caused by years of firewood smoke exposure.
According to Cham, using DelAgua stoves has eliminated the problem of finding firewood and saved her time for other chores.
Fatou Fatty, another beneficiary, highlighted the stoves’ efficiency in consuming less firewood, which reduces the time spent fetching regular firewood.
She remarked, “The stoves use less firewood and prevent us from inhaling smoke. I am no longer experiencing coughing or chest pain caused by firewood smoke.”
With a guarantee for long-lasting performance, these stoves offer eco-friendly cooking options to local neighborhoods.
DelAgua’s efforts were acknowledged by Emmanuel Correa, Senior Energy Officer at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, as complementing government endeavors.
He emphasized the role of these stoves in reducing high forest dependency, stating that ‘we depend too much on forests and need to minimize demand on them. The improved cooking stoves distributed by DelAgua are part of the solution.’
DelAgua’s country representative, Ousman Badjie, shared plans to develop larger devices for institutional cooking and events.
With over 77,000 stoves distributed so far, demand for them continues to pour in from other localities that have yet to receive them.
DelAgua intends to distribute 25,000 stoves to the women of the households in LRR after their successful pilot distribution of 2000 stoves in February 2023.
The organization also hopes to provide 125,000 stoves by 2024 —one for every rural household without access to modern energy-efficient cooking.
