Rotary Club of Moses Lake Completes Guatemala Project of 200 High-Efficiency Cookstoves

Mar 22, 2023

The Rotary Club of Moses Lake recently completed a project in Guatemala to build and install 200 high-efficiency Justa cookstoves (pronounced “hoo-stuh”) in the homes of low-income families. The total project cost was $20,000 USD. The Rotary Club of Moses Lake provided $10,000, and a grant from The Rotary Foundation provided $10,000.

Each year, smoke inhalation from indoor cooking fires kills more people than malaria and AIDS combined. The Justa cookstove reduces smoke inside the home to nearly zero, uses half as much wood as an open fire, and saves up to 15 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere over its lifespan, equal to the total yearly output of the average American.

The Moses Lake club partnered with StoveTeam International to identify locations for the stoves and oversee the installation. Each stove benefits an average family of nearly eight people and provides meaningful employment, while contributing toward a solution to climate change and deforestation. Each family is directly involved in building their stove, leading to greater community adoption and project sustainability.

Rotary Club of Moses Lake President, Roger Hochstetler, said, “Without the stoves, children often have to skip school to gather wood for the home instead. The stoves benefit the family in many differently ways.”

Before construction, a technician visited each home to ensure that the Justa will be placed correctly and that the family will properly maintain the stove. The family then builds a base for the stove using StoveTeam’s construction guide and finds a local person or family member to help StoveTeam’s technician build the stove itself.

Hochstetler added, “This need reaches several focuses of our organization, such as employment, safety for the families, environmental concerns, as well as education.”

The overall cost of a Justa stove is $100 USD per home, and this cost is broken down as follows: Materials including comal griddle, heat resistant baldosa bricks, chimney, and other metal parts is $65. Labor for the stove builder to build the stove is $15. Shipping for the materials is $10. Monitoring and evaluation is $10. StoveTeam provides all materials and employs a local technician to build the Justa stove inside the home.

Great job, all, and thank you so much!