*A version of this article originally appeared in the November 2022 Bush Telegraph newsletter. You can read our recent newsletters and sign-up to receive these in your inbox on our Bush Telegraph newsletter page.
Every now and again we come across a standout community project on our travels in Africa. Simple in concept, widespread in its positive effects and driven by a sharp, dedicated team. Project Luangwa’s Eco-Stove initiative is all of these things. In fact, it is quite brilliant!
From curbing deforestation to female empowerment and improved living conditions, there are myriad benefits to this neat stove-in-a-box. The key is fuel-efficiency: these stoves use much less wood than an open fire and cook well with relatively small twigs. Hence, it’s estimated that each Eco-Stove stops between two and four tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
It also saves the women of the household (it’s invariably the women!) hours of hard, daily wood-collection and the time waiting for inefficient, open fires to build up, thus affording them valuable extra time to embark on other projects, or education. The mud-brick surround, which contributes to the Eco-Stove’s efficiency, reduces the risk of fire injuries, whilst the small, contained burn produces less smoke, and so reduces the incidence of smoke-induced respiratory diseases which are all too common here, from pneumonia to lung cancer.
When we saw it in action in August, we were so taken by its ability to effect real and immediate change that we have pledged to buy an Eco-Stove for a Zambian family for every online review that one of our travellers writes for Expert Africa.
So if you’ve travelled with us at any point and haven’t left us a quick review on Facebook or Google, then just a few minutes of your time will directly benefit a rural family – making them and us very happy!
Simply go to Expert Africa’s Facebook page, answer the question: ‘Do you recommend Expert Africa?’ and write a few words about us or your trip. Or go to Expert Africa’s Google review page and click ‘Write a review’. Then drop us a quick email (replying to this newsletter is fine), telling us that you’ve done this.
We monitor these reviews regularly and will automatically gift an Eco-Stove in your name and confirm this back to you by email.
We want to gift as many of these stoves as possible, so please help us to help these communities. Track how many families have benefitted from our travellers’ reviews by clicking on Expert Africa’s Eco-Stove JustGiving page.
Needless to say, if you haven’t travelled with us yet, but want to support this great initiative anyway, you’re welcome to use the same JustGiving page to donate a stove directly.
We’ve long supported Project Luangwa in their myriad education, development and conservation projects, and are excited to be involved in this latest project. We’ll keep you posted on this culinary success story!
