Smokeless Stoves: María Griselda

María Griselda and her family live in El Rosaria, a small community in the department of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. She and her husband live in their home with four of their children and four grandchildren. They have several other grown children who live in their own homes nearby. While María’s husband and sons work in the fields growing crops for exportation, she and her daughters sell beans and corn, take care of the home, and cook food for their family.

María talks about her stove, saying: “It’s excellent, it’s a great help, it’s a good stove! I save a lot of wood.” Gesturing to the three burners on the stove, María talks about how she can cook multiple dishes at the same time. Pointing to the front burner and then the back burner, María says: “Here, I can make corn or beans. And here, I can make tortillas! This helps me a lot. ”

María finishes by explaining that now, because of the chimney that is part of the smokeless stove design, her kitchen does not fill with smoke when she cooks. “Before we used so much more wood and there was so much smoke. Not anymore!”, she says happily.