Solar Cookers International (SCI), a not-for-profit organization founded in 1987, announced the launch of the Haiti Project, which aims to send one complete solar cooking kit to at least 200 Haitian families that were devastated by the recent earthquake. The initial fundraising goal for this project is $8,000.
Even before the disaster, SCI ranked Haiti as one of the top twenty countries in the world where solar cooking is poised to be very successful and tremendously beneficial. The recent earthquake, in combination with the country’s already scarce fuel and power resources, spells an immediate need for solar cooking training and supplies. Forty dollars is enough to provide one family with a solar cooker, a cooking pot, and a water pasteurization indicator (WAPI), a device that shows when solar-heated water has been rid of pathogens and is safe to drink. “With Haiti’s abundant sunshine, each solar cooker will provide a fuel-free means of cooking many meals, reducing the burden to buy charcoal or fuel-wood in this heavily deforested country, both now and into the future,” said Bev Blum, SCI’s interim Executive Director.
Solar cooking projects have been ongoing in Haiti for decades, so local groups who can facilitate training and distribution are already in place. Unfortunately, at least one confirmed death among SCI’s network was the leader of a solar cooking program and one warehouse filled with much-needed solar cooking supplies was destroyed. SCI is working with Sun Ovens International and Friends of Haiti Organization (FOHO) to send as many solar cookers as possible to Haiti in a shipping container in the coming weeks. Once again, the goal of the Haiti Project is to send enough supplies for at least 200 families. Additional solar cooking supplies will be distributed if surplus funds are collected.
Solar Cookers International (SCI) is widely considered the world pioneer in advancing solar cooking through its product development and field training experience. SCI has improved the lives of tens of thousands through the development, distribution and training of solar cooking systems in Africa. SCI helped invent an innovative “water pasteurization indicator,” a simple, life-saving device that measures when solar-heated water is clear of all disease-causing microbes.
