Your donations allowed two Greater Good Charities partners in Guatemala and Uganda to distribute sustainable cookstoves to Maya families and educate them on their upkeep and environmental benefits.
With your help, Tuik Ruch Lew (TRL) programs have helped create a healthier environment for the indigenous Maya people living in the Lake Atitlán basin in Guatemala. TRL’s main project is the distribution of their ONIL energy-efficient, clean-burning cookstoves, which filter 99% of household air pollution.
Not only do these stoves minimize pollution, but they also protect locals’ respiratory health and the prosperity of the environment surrounding the lake better than open fire cookstoves. The efficiency of these stoves means deforestation rates can drop, carbon emissions are lowered, and families spend less time and energy collecting bundles of wood.
Due to Covid-19, the staff at TRL have been unable to enter households and distribute or repair stoves. However, your honorable donations have contributed to the production of educational and instructive videos so people can maintain and repair their stoves safely.
Group members at Lomunga, Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement Zone 3
Photo © Potential Energy
While your donations to TRL’s cookstove project in Guatemala helped the indigenous Maya, your contributions towards Potential Energy and the Darfur Stoves Project have also assisted the local communities in West Nile, Uganda. Contributions for this project during its first six months helped shop owners and female trainees sell 145 sustainable stoves through the production of hundreds of marketing materials. Marketing materials such as branded posters, t-shirts, pens, and notepads increase sales and lead to positive economic impacts for the West Nile communities. The larger distribution of sustainable cookstoves such as Berkley Darfur Stoves promotes women empowerment, helps locals and refugees adopt clean cooking habits, and protects the environment through the use of solar energy.
