Why solar ovens?

Paulina López Ridruejo rscj cooking with a solar oven.

rscj receiving a solar oven for a school in Uganda.

To improve health and life style, to save trees, to clean the air---one meal at a time.

A number of years ago I read an article about two women in New Mexico who wrote of the advantages of using the sun for cooking food. As I pursued this, I found out that rural women in Uganda or Kenya walk five to seven hours a day to scavenge for firewood. Because there are no trees nearby, they start out at 5 AM and do not return until noon as they search for firewood to cook their family’s meal. The UN estimates that 50% of the trees cut globally, are used for cooking fires. Then I realized that most countries that are fuel poor are sun rich! It is possible to cook an entire meal in a solar oven with 2-4 hours of sunshine. While the food cooks, the women go about other daily tasks. In the process, trees are saved, lungs and eyes stay healthier, and the air stays cleaner.

The UN estimates that women in cooking huts inhale daily an amount of smoke equal to 10 to 20 packs of cigarettes. Lung and eye disease are prominent among women in developing countries due to the smoke of cooking fires, and the small baby strapped on her back likewise suffers. However, using solar ovens can reduce the need for open fires and the amount of trees cut for fuel.

The World Health Organization estimates that up to 80% of all sickness and disease in the developing world is caused by the poor quality of drinking water and sanitation. Thousands of people die everyday from unsafe water; millions more suffer from the effects of it. But this can change. It has been proven that the disease-causing microbes in water do not have any unusual heat resistance and should be killed at temperatures similar to those in milk pasteurization. This means people using solar ovens can heat water to 149 degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees Centigrade) for ten minutes to kill all waterborne bacteria and parasites. Think what the impact of safe water for drinking and personal use would have on a family and a village.

Let us also remember there will be less burns from children not falling into open fires. Fewer women will experience burns from their clothing catching fire or small stoves exploding.

So solar ovens and their use by more and more people will help bring about safe drinking water, will reduce eye and lung disease and burns, lessen deforestation, will produce nutritious food, will help save time and energy and will help save money as families do not need to buy fuel. No electricity, wood or fossil fuel is required when cooking with a solar oven. This helps save the environment and reduces pollution. Remember food does not burn as the ovens are designed to get hot enough to cook, but not so hot that food will burn.

With the realization of all the above, I work hard to get solar ovens to people and countries which are in need. To date, ovens have been taken or sent to Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Uganda and Kenya. Many more are needed and can be well used in sun rich countries. I work with a group called “Help for Self Help”. The number of sun ovens being sent abroad is not large, but each one that does reach a family brings about a big difference as it is easy to use—one meal at a time. I would like in time to share with you stories of those who are making use of the small and the large ovens, and of how this is changing their lives.

Mary Pat Rives rscj
Province of the United States