THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT!
WE NOW HAVE AN INNOVATIVE COOKING SOLUTION THAT AVOIDS TREE-BASED FUEL IN DCT MVUMI INSTITUTE OF HEALTH SCIENCES
We were concerned to stop the use of a large lorry load of firewood in the kitchens every month, and were aware of the effects of tree cutting on climate change.
Next Power (of Dodoma) have put in a solar system to heat water 1,000 litres of water every day up to 60 – 85 degrees C, and Mihan have installed a gas system to complete the water heating and cook the food. We are also in the process of planting fruit trees in the space previously needed for firewood; in the long term this will provide some fruit for the students and improve their diet. The setting up costs of the new system which caters for 500 students were a over 20 Million T/= (£7,700).
The system began functioning in mid April, so the project is under continuous evaluation. Cooking staff have reported being much more comfortable in their working area as they have hot water available directly into the stove, rather than carrying buckets of cold water. The temperature of the work environment is drastically reduced.
Using firewood was costing about 1 M T/= a year. Using gas is more expensive, but having hot water must reduce gas consumption and we hope to increase the time the gas lasts by some alterations in cooking practices (for example soaking beans overnight before cooking). Our first ton of gas lasted 45 days; our first refill (see picture below) was done on 6.6.2017.
We are proud to have a system that is functioning without damaging the environment, and are very grateful to our generous donors who have made this possible.