[Stoves] Fwd: did you get this THE BIG DESIGN QUESTIONS: IS TECH APPROPRIATE IF IT VIOLATES CULTURAL NORMS

[Ronal W. Larson]

Stove list:

	Bob Lange has asked me to forward this as his list specifics seem to have gotten mixed up.

Ron  

Begin forwarded message:

> From: rbtvl at aol.com
> Subject: did you get this THE BIG DESIGN QUESTIONS: IS TECH APPROPRIATE IF IT VIOLATES CULTURAL NORMS
> Date: April 27, 2014 at 5:46:19 PM MDT
> To: rongretlarson at comcast.net
> 
> Dear Ron.
>  
> I sent this to the stove list and got the confirmation that it was received but I did not get it myself.   Please let me know if you got it as a list member.   I am concerned my messages are somehow not making it to the list.
>  
> Thanks.
>  
> bob      508 735 9176
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rbtvl <rbtvl at aol.com>
> To: stoves <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Sent: Sun, Apr 27, 2014 3:05 pm
> Subject: THE BIG DESIGN QUESTIONS: IS TECH APPROPRIATE IF IT VIOLATES CULTURAL NORMS
> 
> Cooking is obviously a central cultural practice.  And we intend to help change this cultural practice.  I don’t know if we should call it “changing cultural norms” or not, but we obviously want to change culture.
>  
> The important thing is to change it WITH the women. In our work in Tanzania we find all, yes all, Maasai women want to change this aspect of their culture once they know it is possible.   Not one woman we have encountered in the present 11 Maasai villages where we work prefers to keep her three stones rather than get one of our chimney-based, smoke-reducing, house-cleaning, work-saving  stoves.   We have 100 percent sustained adoption. 
>  
> Our problem is not changing women’s attitudes to their culture.  They can be conservative with respect to some aspects of culture, of course.   But they immediately see the benefits of changing from a cooking culture that makes them and their children sick, their eyes hurt, and the menial labor in wood gather so demanding.   We find women want to change this miserable part of their culture.  Their problem is getting their husbands to sell a goat or two to get them a stove because their culture is plagued in general by way too much indifference on the part of men to the living conditions and health of their wives and children.  That is a not a stove problem. That is changing too, slowly, but because of all sorts of interactions not just about cooking.
>  
> We sweeten the stove deal by selling solar lighting and cell phone charging systems to men who buy stoves for their wives.    This, I suppose, is change in cultural norms too.  All Maasai men and women want this electrification.  Every last one.
>  
> Our analysis of public health statistics convinces us that the deaths from lung disease of between 20 and 25 children per 1000 before the age of five are prevented by our stove.  We also  measured Carbon Monoxide 24 average levels in Maasai homes cooking with three stones and it is a few percent points below what the WHO specifies as the SYMPTOMATIC level for CO poisoning.  This is particularly disturbing since the Maasai keep new mothers and newborn indoors for a couple of months after birth.  Our stove brings this CO level down to a healthy level way  below the WHO standards.
>  
> Why are Maasai women to ready for this change of culture?
>  
> First, we designed the stove over a year and a half in collaboration with the women, trying out prototypes in their homes.    And women do the brick work and install the stove.   It is not  just a retail commodity.  It is an aspect of women’s work and empowerment.
>  
> And what so many of us forget is that three stones is a good way to cook for some purposes.   It is great for long term simmering in large pots, like corn and bean stews.  And it is easy to control fire intensity.  And you don’t have to tend the fire all the time and can do other things.  So If our stoves make such cooking inconvenient for women they go back to three stones at least some of the time.   It is not because they love the culture of smoky inefficient three stones. They are not clinging to a cultural norm.    It is that they are cooking seven days a week for from maybe five to ten people, and need convenience.   Our stove works for these cooking challenges as well as other types of cooking.  So they never go back to three stones.   
>  
> Yes, rural African women have cultures.   We all do.   They are basically over-worked women who need change.  And if we work collaboratively with them, we can find the changes that they want.
>  
> Bob Lange
> Maasai Stoves and Solar
> www.internationalcollaborative.org
> +1 508 735 9176

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