Kenya news archive

*November 2017: Bernhard Müller of Lernen - Helfen - Leben e.V. held a 2-day solar cooking workshop at the Korando Education Centre in Kisumu County. Topics included the use of solar cookers, heat-retention cooking, thermodynamics, optics, thermoelectrical generators (TEGs), gasifiers, health issues related to traditional cookstoves, the Uridu anti-poverty campaign, and the use of a WAPI. The intra-African coordination for the event was done by Faustine Odaba and the local coordination was done by John Amayo. The solar cookers used in the workshop were Sharon Clausson’s Copenhagen Solar Cooker Light, One Earth Designs' SolSource, a TWR box cooker of 1994, Kenyan made CooKit panel cookers, a LightOven of Hartmut Ehmler, and a funnel cooker designed by Bernhard Müller.
*October 2017: Dedicated solar cooking proponent visits Kenya and Uganda - Roger Haines, CEO of Haines Solar Cookers, spent most of the first half of 2017 by attending and networking at the 6th SCI World Conference 2017 in India, and then traveling throughout central Africa to promote various solar cooking projects. The seeds for the Kakuma festival began at the conference. Next he met with solar cooker entrepreneurs Camily Wedende, Dinah Chienjo, and John Amayo in Nairobi, Kenya, and then toured the situation in Uganda. He met with the Alliance for African Assistance in Gulu to find ways to distribute subsidized Haines Solar Cookers. At the end of April he was back in Kenya at the Kakuma Refugee Camp to help with the planned festival. Faustine Odaba was on hand to help the student participants use their new solar cookers to best effect. Read in more detail about Roger's trip at: 
*October 2017: Kenya brings in world's toughest plastic bag ban - Producing, selling and using plastic bags becomes illegal as officials say they want to target manufacturers and sellers first. The east African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy Read more... Primarily aimed at single use plastic bags, this may be a game changer for solar panel cookers, which typically use plastic oven cooking bags as greenhouse enclosures. See: Polypropylene food container alternate to plastic bag glazing
*September 2017: Webinar: Solar Cooking Sector Updates Refugee Working Group Call - SCI sponsored the refugee working group phone conversation on 21 September as part of the Sector Updates webinar. Godfrey Mawira submitted a summary of current projects in Kenya from the Eco-mandate Group. 
*May 2017: Solar cookers complement each other - Faustine Odaba shared her extensive solar cooking experience at the Korando Educational Center in Kisumu, Kenya. She uses two solar thermal technologies, working together, to cook efficiently for large groups. A parabolic cooker is good at bringing a large pot of food quickly up to cooking temperature, then the pot can be transferred to a fireless basket to continue cooking, while the parabolic cooker can begin heating pother foods. 
*May 2017: Contribute your data: Drive solar cooking results - Solar cooking contributes to long-term progress from cleaner, more efficient, sustainable cooking solutions worldwide. It is crucial to convey the positive health, economic, and environmental impacts of solar cooking to government agencies and other stakeholders. To help build this case, SCI is reaching out to all solar cooking partners. SCI invites your input in the form of data on baseline information, number and type of solar cookers, number of years of the project, location, outcomes, etc. With your help, we can work to include solar-thermal cooking in national energy and sustainability plans. You provide:
::*Number of solar cookers
::*Type
::*Location
::*Time period
::*Distributed
::*Sold
::*Manufactured
:Submit your solar cooking data by filling out a simple form on the Solar Cookers International website or email info@solarcookers.org.
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*April 2017: On April 29, 2017, a solar cooking festival for 500 schoolchildren was held at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. The idea was originated by three of the participants at the 6th SCI World Conference 2017, put on in January by Solar Cookers International in Gujarat, India. Roger Haines, CEO of Haines Solar Cookers, Ritesh Raithatha, CEO of Simplified Technologies for Life, and Godfrey Mawira Kaburu, an engineer with the World Food Program in Nairobi. At the Gujarat conference, Godfrey presented the showing that in October, 2016, solar cooking was the second-most preferred method of cooking at the Kakuma Refugee Camp, even though very few solar cookers were available. To create an inexpensive, durable cooker for the festival, Roger collaborated with Sharon Clausson, designer of the Copenhagen Solar Cooker, to design the “Haines-Copenhagen” cooker using Roger’s metallized polyester (MPET) foam reflector, and a UV-resistant polycarbonate Haines Cooking Sleeve. The cookers were made in Kakuma by refugees from materials donated by Haines Solar Cookers, and should last 10 years with proper care. Ritesh’s company, Simplified Technologies for Life, has produced “Suryakumbh” solar cooking festivals for almost 120,000 participants in India, and holds the Guinness Record for the most people solar cooking at the same time: 7,438. Ritesh and his colleague, Vivek Kabra, provided expertise and leadership for the festival. Godfrey put together a team of experts, including Mwenda Wilkinson, who handled the logistical, financial, and personnel details. The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) generously donated the services of Raphael Nyabala and Wilson Kinyua and many others to recruit the children and provide facilities and transportation. Funding was provided by Haines Solar Cookers and the San Diego, California, Rotary Club. Additional support and resources came from Solar Household Energy (SHE), a Washington, DC solar cooking organization. Other partners included Eco-Mandate, which sells solar cookers in Chuka, Kenya, the Alliance for African Assistance, a San Diego-based refugee resettlement organization, and the Rotaract Club of the University of California, San Diego, which made 500 Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs) for the Festival participants. Training was provided by Faustine “Mama Solar” Odaba, and her Nairobi NGO, NAREWAMA. Significantly, Ms. Odaba had been one of the trainers in 1995 when SCI first introduced solar cookers in Kakuma. Before the festival, 50 refugee women were trained to use the cookers, and they in turn trained the children. The festival took place at Hope Primary School in Kakuma Camp Four. During the festival, “Mama Solar” set up fifteen cookers and cooked a wide variety of food, including rice, vegetables chicken, eggs, cabbage, ugali, beans and cake. The children sat in neat rows as trainers handed out the cookers, cooking pots, food and water. Each child assembled their own cooker, and successfully cooked delicious noodles before an enthusiastic crowd of family members and relatives. The children were elated and proudly showed off their new cookers. Follow up studies are planned, and Roger Haines is working with a local entrepreneur to offer Haines-Copenhagen solar cookers for sale in Kakuma for a sustainable price of around $25 USD.
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Kakuma Surakumbh cooker assembly, 5-8-17.png
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*February 2017: A Kenyan court ruling has blocked the government’s decision to close Dadaab Refugee Camp in November 2017. Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee camp and home to more than 200,000 Somalians.
*December 2016: Henk Blok, who participated in the Togo Tilé project, came across this project by accident. He contacted Mr. Odhiambo. Subsequently Mr. Odhiambo made a number of solar box cookers. He then proceeded to demonstrate the solar boxes together with a CooKit, , and heat-retention cookers (borrowed from the local Ministry of Energy) in his village and vicinity. There was a great deal of interest and several people acquired a wood-saving oven and/or a hay basket. Solar Cooking KoZon's financial contribution amounts to € 3,500. This year the project is part of the 'Hervormd Lyceum Zuid's good causes list’ again. 
*November 2016: Faustine Odaba conducted a workshop about solar and heat-retention cooking cooking in Lordariak, Kajiado County, located between Nairobi and the Tanzanian border, for 132 participants.
*September 2016: Renewed solar cooking workshops at Kenyan refugee camps - Solar cooking advocate, Faustine Odaba, and her daughter have been conducting solar cooking and fireless cooking workshops at the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. The has been an enthusiastic response to thee workshops as participants prepare for the time when Kenya closes the camps.
File:FOTO_in_refugee_camps_August_2016c.jpg|Faustine Odaba solar cooking workshop at refugee camps in Kenya
File:Faustine_Odaba_in_Kenya_refugee_camps_1,_2016.png|Faustine Odaba solar cooking workshop at refugee camps in Kenya
File:Faustine_Odaba_in_Kenya_refugee_camps_2,_2016.png|Faustine Odaba solar cooking workshop at refugee camps in Kenya
*June 2016: Benefits of solar cooking explained to Rotary members - Camily Wedende recently presented to fellow members of Rotary Club of Eldoret, Kenya. Camily is the group leader of the Eldoret Student Projects program.
*April 2016: Training future trainers of solar cooking - Camily Wedende, group leader of Eldoret Student Projects in Elodoret, Kenya and member of Rotary Club of Eldoret, leads a Train-the-Trainers Workshop for the Rotary Club of Gulu, Uganda. The Uganda Rotary Club is preparing to distribute 500 Haines Solar Cookers in Northern Uganda and is learning more about solar cooking from Camily's years of experience building, teaching and cooking with solar.
*April 2016: Local woman from Kingston provides school lunches and solar cookers - For the past year, Gabriella Zamojski and her family have been providing school lunches to the school in Kamin Oningo, a fishing community across the bay. Midday cooking of the rice and beans was done over open fires. Firewood however, was growing ever more scarce and increasingly expensive. Seeking donations from friends, Gabriella purchased a new fuel efficient wood stove that uses only 10-15% of the wood supply compared to open fires. Wanting to do more to help families, she also organized instruction and a supply of solar cookers. Approximately 150 people were served a solar meal at a community gathering and 21 families left with new solar cookers. A micro-financing program is planned to asset other families obtain solar cookers. Read more...
*February 2016: Sharon Cousins has worked with Camily Wedende in Eldoret, Kenya for a number of years, helping to find ways to promote solar cooking to the local community on a shoestring budget. Sharon has experimented with a number of simple solar panel cooker designs, and her latest effort uses a large reflective bowl as a cooker base with an adjustable curved back reflector. After a recent visit, she sent Camily home with a large stainless bowl that is being used as a form to lay up paper mache copies of the shape using old newspapers. When dry and covered with aluminum foil, it becomes the base for a panel cooker. Students involved with Student Solar Cooking Science Projects Eldoret, Kenya have been eager to help with the construction.
*February 2016: On February 1, 2016, Camily Wedende of Sun Cookers International in Eldoret, Kenya, put on a "train the trainer" program in preparation for the Gulu, Uganda, Rotary Club's distribution of 500 Haines Solar Cookers in Northern Uganda. Geoffrey Okello of the Gulu Rotary Club reported that the group benefited greatly from Mr. Wedende's solar cooking knowledge and experience and above all learned how to cook African staple foods in a solar cooker. To cook Posho (ugali), the flour needs to be mixed with cold water and covered, instead of the normal way of first boiling the water before adding the flour, and no stirring is required. Sweet potatoes and cassava need to be cut into small pieces, eggs have to be placed directly on the solar cooker instead of the normal way of boiling in water. The group made and drank tea before cooking the following food items for lunch: Sweet potatoes, rice, green vegetables, eggs and posho.
*November 2015: The members of the Imani Women's Group bake cupcakes and larger cakes using only a wooden box and the sun. They earn enough money to help support their families and send their children to school. On a sunny day they produce up to 150 cupcakes, which they sell for 10 shillings (0.10 US$), and 30 cakes that go for 200 shillings (2.00 $US). Kenya, which straddles the equator, receives (according to the Kenyan Ministry of Energy) an average of 4.5 kwh per square meter per day. Read more...
::See also: Solar restaurants and bakeries
*June 2015: On June 10, Faustine Odaba gave a presentation on solar and fireless cooking to a women's initiative in Ringsaker, Norway after being invited by several NGOs.
*March 2015: Water Boiling Test Results Bernhard Müller's Water Boiling Test was conducted in February 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya comparing several types of solar panel cookers. One liter of water was used in each cooker. All the cookers showed they were capable of pasteurizing water and cooking food. Please note that Roger Haines contends that his cooker was not set up correctly for this test (details). See 
thumb|175px|Friends of the Old (FOTO) staff members bind the edges of new CooKits to make them more durable in Katito, Lower Nyakach, Kenya. - C. Cross
*March 2015: New CooKits being made more durable in Kenya - Friends of the Old (FOTO) staff members bind the edges of new CooKits to make them more durable in Katito, Lower Nyakach, Kenya
*November 2014: Bernhard Müller started a fundraiser at betterplace.org to support seminars and workshops directed at the use and production of fireless cookers for the Kenyan NGOs NAREWAMA and FOTO.
*November 2014: Camily Wedende reports that a crowd of around 200 people attended the ceremony and celebration for the successful second project team in Student Solar Cooking Science Projects Eldoret, Kenya, innovators of the Hexagon Solar Cooker. Sharon Cousins, a long time supporter of the project, wrote a speech for the new graduates. It was read by guest of honor John Amayo.
*October 2014: Here is a recent photo of the latest group of children that Camily Wedende has been working with, each making their own solar panel cooker. See more photos at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Student-Solar-Cooking-Science-Projects-Eldoret-Kenya/213211212064334. Thanks to Sharon Cousins for helping to post Camily's latest activities.
*October 4, 2014: The Natural Resources and Waste Management Alliance was invited to the launch of Kenya Interfaith Network on Environmental Action (KINEA); a network of faith groups that are propelled by their faith values to care for environment. The event was held at Tangaza college in Nairobi and was attended by various universities, colleges, NGOs, and religion groups. The guest of honour was Rt. Rev.Bishop Alfred Kipkoech Arap Rotich, the military ordinariate of the Catholic church in Kenya. The event was attended by over a hundred participants. KINEA engages in programs related to climate change and livelihood enhancement which include: ,promotion of tree growing faith owned/ managed institutions and land, faith based education for sustainable development (ESD), and faith based sustainable agriculture and wildlife conservation programs
*September 2014: Launch of new website - NAREWAMA, located in Nairobi, Kenya and under the direction of Faustine Odaba, has brought their organization and renewable energy activities online. Visit at: Natural Resources and Waste Management Alliance - NAREWAMA 
*September 2014: Remba, the island without wood, welcomes solar cooking - Friends of the Old (FOTO) staff Seline and Pamela went on a four day work trip to Remba Island, Kenya to promote solar cooking and water testing. Remba Island is on Lake Victoria and is rocky and very remote. There is no firewood or charcoal on Remba Island and must be imported from Mbita by boat. The scarcity of firewood on the island combined with plenty of sunshine makes solar cooking and water pasteurization an ideal solution for the locals. Interest was high at the demonstration and local residents bought the available supply of CooKits and fireless baskets. See more photos of their trip...
*March 2014: Samaritan's Purse has provided 40 solar cookers in Kenya and training on how to use them, primarily to individuals living with HIV/AIDS. As part of the training, Samaritan's Purse includes reforestation techniques. Read more...
*April 2014: Building material supplier in Kenya imports solar cooker supplies - Roger Haines reports that Global Hardware, Ltd., a prominent Nairobi, Kenya building supply company, globalhardwarekenya@gmail.com, has agreed to purchase a large quantity of reflective foam insulation and polycarbonate plastic film for resale at low cost to solar cooking entrepreneurs. This is expected to reduce to less than $10 the wholesale cost of materials in Nairobi for the newly designed Haines Solar Cooker. The hope is that the availability of these inexpensive materials will promote the creation of new solar cooking entrepreneurs in East Africa. Haines' San Diego Rotary Club will purchase materials for 500 of the new cookers for distribution by the Rotary Club of Gulu, Uganda.
*November 2013: Study of water treatment in Kenya demonstrates the effectiveness of the WAPI - Bob Metcalf, research microbiologist, and FOTO worked together on a study to compare results of various water treatment chemicals to the WAPI water pasteurization indicator used with a CooKit solar cooker. One finding of note is that the WAPI, when used with the CooKit, was 100% effective in producing negative results for E.coli, while the WaterGuard (3 drops/liter) method was only effective in most cases. Read the study at: 
*October 2013: Faustine Odaba and Nicholas Okeya present a solar cooking and haybasket during a festivity of the Catholic Church in Nairobi.
*May 2013: San Diego, , USA Rotary Clubs have partnered with Rotary Clubs in Kenya to provide three hundred Haines Solar Cookers, designed by California resident Roger Haines, for a pilot project with a community in Kenya. Director of the Kenya-based Natural Resources and Waste Management Alliance (NAREWAMA) Faustine Odaba is supervising this project. This new solar cooker design is made from commercially available, reflective bubble insulation. The plastic bag has been replaced by a clear strip of polycarbonate film, which is rolled into a cylinder and secured with clips to support the cook pot.
*May 2013: Safe water packages helping in Kenya - Solar Cookers International released information on the their latest efforts to offer safe water packages to low-income families in Kenya. The package contains all the necessary components to use the integrated cooking approach, which means using the solar panel cooker to heat water and kill pathogens when it is sunny, and using an efficient fuel stove when it is not. A heat retention basket, or "fireless cooker" is included to keep cooked food warm, and to extend cooking times. Working with their partners, who provide the training and follow-up, they have distributed 212 safe water packages from November 2012 through April 2013. These packages have provided over 1,000 people a virtually cost free way to maintain a healthy water supply and prepare their meals. SCI has set a goal to increase the number of packages they fund from 35 per month to 100 per month through the fall of 2013. Please consider donating to SCI to help reach this goal. [[File:Solar Coo
*November 2012: Integrated Cooking Method promoted in Kenya - Ingelore Kahrens reports that last summer she went to Kenya again for five weeks to celebrate the birthday of the newly founded Mount Kenya Integrated Community Development Organization (MKICDO). The Gaketha Laura Energy Saving Group, which was founded after Ingelore's first visit in 2009, is promoting the use of fuel-efficient stoves and basket cookers, as well as promoting soil and crop management practices. A Lazola 3 solar box cooker was introduced, which was approved by the board members of MKICDO. The group is planning to train artisans at a training center near Chogoria on how to build the cooker. On September 28th, the Lazola 3, along with a basket cooker and a fuel-efficient stove, was taken for demonstration to a divisional show. The County Commissioner from Kitui, the Assistant Minister for Agriculture and many other people were delighted to eat rice that was cooked with the sun.” Read more: 
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*March 2013: John Amayo, with SURE, reports that the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya recently held a farmers field day, providing an event for local farmers to come and see new ideas. SURE participated, and were able to demonstrate solar cooking using the CooKit, a parabolic solar cooker, and a Pulsee Solar Cooker. The farmers were pleased with the meat stew prepared in the box cooker, the roasted meat on the parabolic, and water pasteurization with the Pulsee. We also used the heat retention basket on this particularly windy day. It was rewarding to be able to show how the water available was not safe for drinking, and how solar water pasteurization can make it safe.
*February 2013: Kisumu County receives water pasteurization information - Former SCI Kenya staffer John Amayo runs Sustainable Utilization of Renewable Energy (SURE) in the Kadibo division of Kisumu County. With the help of Solar Cookers International and Bob Metcalf's portable microbiology lab, SURE has been able to test local water sources and has distributed thirty safe water packages to the vulnerable in the community. The safe water packages provided by SCI which SURE distributes, like the ones received by FOTO beneficiaries, are accompanied by programs to educate the community on hand washing, food safety, cleanliness around the home, and solar pasteurizing or chemically treating all drinking water. SURE also has plans to harness wind power for lighting and promote the use bio-fuels like biogas for lighting and cooking.
*November 2012: Student Solar Cooking Science Projects, USA and Kenya - What began as a pilot project in Eldoret, Kenya has evolved into two sister organizations, Eldoret Student Projects, founded by Sharon Cousins in the USA and a sister organization in Kenya founded by Camily Wedende. Ongoing fundraising goals include renting a small work facility. Because of limited funding, the group is always looking for ways to produce a reasonable solar cooker for $10 USD or less. The partnership that led to these projects began when Camily Wedende of Eldoret read about an American youth project advised by Sharon Cousins, and contacted Sharon asking for advice on working with young people. The pilot project, which involved twenty students ages 10-18, was a stunning success. The innovative approach teaches skills that will help the students in many areas of life. They hope to create a replicable model for the harnessing the tremendous energy and enthusiasm of young people for the advancement of solar cooking in their communities and beyond.
*November 2012: Students with Eldoret Student Projects have designed a new solar cooker called the Hexagon Solar Cooker. The bottom portion of the cooker has six angles, with a two foot tall reflector at the rear. It a powerful cooker that cooks food in less than three hours with good sunshine. The students used paper cardboard, aluminum foil and glue. Each student earns the materials for their cooker by helping to build and test prototypes and keeping good records of their observations. New students have registered to begin making the new solar cooker design.
*February 2012: Camily and Gaudenziah Wedende have started the Seeing is Believing Cafe in Eldoret, Kenya. They are cooking cakes, tea, and other solar-cooked goodies, and selling them in front of their Sun Cookers International business. Tanya Cothran, Director of Spirit in Action, writes about their cafe on the Spirit in Action's blog.
*February 2012: Peter Mwathi has been developing an inexpensive solar water heating system, designed to provide warm water for domestic tasks. The water is stored below ground, and has stayed warm enough to use for as long as three days. It is not intended to be a water pasteurization system. He says a system costing Sh. 20,000 can heat water for up to 200 people, while another with measurements of 30 m. by 3 m. can heat water for 600 people.
*February 2011: Student success shows independent spread of solar cooking - The Eldoret Student Projects in Kenya, spearheaded by Camily Wedende of Sun Cookers International, and aided by long-distance advisor, Sharon Cousins, of Solar Cookers International, have taken an important step in that spread with a student team who not only learned how to cook with sunshine but also learned to take a creative and scientific approach to solar cooking. Students researched existing solar cookers on the Solar Cookers World Network site. They put their heads together and came up with new ideas to try. They performed comparative tests on an existing model and two of their prototypes. While all three reached cooking temperatures, one innovation showed the strongest performance at their location. All twenty students built durable solar panel cookers to take home to the camps where they live, and have been using them to prepare food and provide water pasteurization for their families. They keep records of their progress and experiments, amazing the neighbors who stop by to see food cooking in a stove powered by sunshine, a stove that children in their community helped to invent. Camily and the team hope that other schools and clubs can use the example of their pilot project to help more youth become scientists for solar cooking, to aid in the spread of this bright idea whose time has come.
* January 2011: African solar cooking partnership project visited by Dr. Jill Biden, wife of the U.S. Vice President. Lift Up Africa is a strong believer that partnering and sharing resources is a key to successful implementation and sustainability. This project was designed to introduce solar cooking and related technologies to ten communities in Kenya. The partnership relied on Africa HEART, a Kenyan-based NGO recently visited by Vice President Biden’s wife Dr. Jill Biden, to identify three community groups in each district, the fifty trainees in each community, and training venues. Africa Heart covered expenses and handling logistics related to transport for the solar cooking equipment, distribution venues, and follow-up on usage and other needs. Solar Cookers International East Africa Office (SCI-EA) provided the trainers and supplies, written reports, and conducted the training. Lift Up Africa provided a grant to cover direct expenses related to equipment purchase and SCI-EA’s travel, partnership connections, and worked with Africa Heart on follow-up and project evaluation. This project was a success and 150 families, approximately 1,200 people, have benefitted from their new training and solar cooking equipment. This project demonstrates the value of independent organizations working together, each providing their area of expertise, to achieve substantial results. Hopefully, this will be a continuing pattern for projects initiated by members of the Solar Cookers World Network.
*September 2010: The necessary fund having been raised by project consultant Sharon Cousins and transferred to Kenya, Camily Wedende and the student team of the pilot project for Eldoret Student Projects are busily constructing the new model of solar panel cooker that is the result of the team's research and experiments. Each student will be taking a Panel Stove Cooker home to the camps where they live, where the cookers will be used to improve the lives of their families, and where the students will continue to keep records of their progress. Mr. Wedende promises more photos soon, and reports that, "It's a wonderful project!"
*August 2010: A year in review included a number of solar cooking and water purification activities within Kenya, done by Global Roots in partnership with Solar Cookers International. Training occurred in five communities with 85 individuals. See more details..
*July 2010: Awareness is rising amongst the residents of Machakos District, in the Eastern Province of Kenya. that one can cook using direct solar energy. In July, during the annual agricultural fair, the Mayor of Machakos witnessed the sun cooking and tasted the food, he exclaimed; “Wonders will never cease - you mean to tell us that all these foods were cooked out here in the sun without any fire or smoke!?” “Definitely Sir.” replied Stella, the Solar Cookers International project Officer of the province. The guest of Honor was the Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Mututho, who on seeing the cooked food said “This would be very brilliant for the IDPs in Naivasha who are causing havoc on the environment.”
*July 2010: Solar Cookers International (SCI) is working in collaboration with Practical Action in the Kadibo region of Kenya considered to have a total service area population of 49,000. The project description as concerns SCI in agreement with US-EPA is to increase market access to clean cooking technologies (solar cookers, Upesi Stove, fireless cookers) for health and wealth in rural, Kadibo Division of Nyanza province, Kenya. One of the participants, Jane Nyambok, saved all the money she would have spent on fuel for 3 months. She saved her money faithfully, in her words she "wanted to prove it to myself that using the interventions is for “health and wealth” as it said in the fliers." The interventions are the solar cooking technologies. Jane saved Kshs. 2,060! This is the equivelant to $25.42 US dollars. Jane publiclly counted her saving to show everyone just how using clean cooking technologies gave her wealth! "Everyone clapped; others had their hands in their mouths with faces of utter marvel!!! What could I do with the money – many things but one returning it into the tin! I thought of paying back a loan, but no, of shopping with it but no, of sending some to my mother but no….. for the first time had money that I could make a decision on. Wow!"
*June 2010: Peter Mwathi is shown demonstrating his creation, the Kenya Solar Concentrator. Peter is an agricultural economist as well as solar inventor. He sees a market for this design with local farmers. It will help facilitate the sterilization of soil before the planting of seedlings. Currently, wood fires are set on top of the soil, creating air pollution and depleting the limited timber resouce.
 
*May 2010 Camily Wedende, of Sun Cookers International, and Sharon Cousins, of Solar Cookers International, began a small pilot project involving middle/secondary age students at a school in Eldoret, Kenya. When approached by Camily for advice on solar cooking projects with school children, Sharon encouraged a simple scientific approach, so that students can learn to experiment and observe critically and innovate as well as learning the skill of solar cooking. With Camily to help and advise them, students helped with construction, experimentation, and comparison observations that involved three types of solar cookers: a CooKit, a bowl/basin type cooker with a small vertical reflector, and a variation that Camily and the students came up with for Sharon's invention the EZ-3 Solar Cooker. Now, having experimented and compared, 20 enthusiastic students have chosen the model they would like to construct to take home—the variation on the EZ-3— if a small fund can be arranged for materials. In recognition of the work the students have done in helping with model development and comparison tests, Sharon is trying to raise the needed resources. Sharon says, "We are under-utilizing the power of young people in spreading the good news about solar cooking and making it more accessible. These twenty special young people are showing the whole world that young people can make a big difference. I am proud of them all and grateful to Camily Wedende for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this special solar cooking science project."
*April 2010: Seat Partnership Foundation support of the HARMONY Center in Kenya - in Malava village, near the Kakamega forest our associates coodinated with the local governmental organization to build the HARMONY awareness center http://hadeg.org/. The project is to contribute to solving the energy crisis in western Kenya due to population growth and inefficient use of natural resources. Along with promoting the planting of trees is necessary to teach the villagers to reduce the consumption of wood for cooking, because cooking is still commonplace on fire with three stones. We therefore support the production and use of clay stoves and solar cookers. It currently offers local people the center HARMONY solar cookers, clay ovens with low consumption of firewood as well as advice on how to fertilizing the soil and tree planting.
*March 2009: Sunny Solutions for Real - Solar Cooker Review
*March 2009: As Solar Cookers International (SCI) expands its reach in eastern Africa and beyond, it must grow and strengthen its collaborations with community-based and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), as well as governmental entities. During a trip to eastern Africa in January Karyn Ellis was fortunate to meet with a number of like-minded organizations, nurturing valuable relationships in SCI’s efforts to expand its influence in the Lake Victoria region. She also met extensively with SCI’s Nairobi staff, led by Margaret Owino, about goals for the year and plans for project expansion out of SCI’s new Kenya offices in Kisumu, Kakamega and Machakos. While in Nairobi I attended two inspiring solar cooking demonstrations: the first was in the Kangemi slum outside Nairobi, where children from the Hamomi Children’s Centre were served a solar lunch — their first lunch in many months; the second was for a women’s group in the new SCI community of Machakos, where young mothers learned to use the sun to cook food and save money normally spent on cooking fuel.
*March 2009: Indiana native Dusty Breeding first visited Africa in 2006, working with orphans and other malnourished children. He was so moved by the heartbreaking conditions he experienced that he decided to put his culinary arts background to use to help the children learn to bake bread for their own nourishment and to help lift themselves out of poverty. The nonprofit organization Breeding founded, LifeBread, Inc., is dedicated to empowering the people of impoverished nations through nutritional education and food preparation training as a means to curb the severity of world hunger. Breeding is enthusiastic about the use of solar ovens in his programs, and hopes to eventually equip an orphanage with a large commercial model capable of baking 400 loaves of bread daily. During one trip to Uganda, Breeding planned to use a solar oven made out of a 50-gallon drum to help students bake rolls for 200 campers.
*February 2009: The photo on the right shows a community group in the Siaya District of western Kenya that just had a demo by the Solar Cookers International East Africa Office. The demo was given in a local market place with local authority figures present and these wonderful "guardians" of nearly 350 orphans.
*November 2008: The Amani Solution Self Help Group began promoting solar cookers in mid-2006 through a series of seminars and demonstrations they conducted in and around Nairobi, including Kiberia and Waithaka. The group had been producing two to three wooden solar box cookers per month, but it has struggled to keep up with demand. Coordinator Henry Ogola Oloo says the group was inspired and moved by four orphans whose parents had died in a car accident. The eldest child, 14-year-old Apiyo, is responsible for cooking for her younger brothers and sisters. The Amani Solution Self Help Group donated a solar cooker to the family, taught them how to use it, and have been monitoring its use and the family’s progress. “It is wonderful and very much different,” says Oloo. “The children say ‘It is just as when our mother was alive. We eat our lunch early and go back to school. Even our supper we eat as early as 7 p.m.’” Prior to owning a solar cooker, the children had to gather firewood before they could begin cooking, delaying their evening meal until about 10 p.m.
*June 2008: Solar Cookers International (SCI) has begun the Safe Water Project in Kenya led by SCI founder and board president Dr. Bob Metcalf, a professor of Biological Sciences at California State University, Sacramento. Bob’s development of a Portable Microbiology Laboratory (PML) will allow rural health workers and community members to test water quality in the field by assessing levels of Escherichia coli contamination. The revolutionary PML can be used anywhere by practically anyone, and it will liberate government ministries in charge of water analysis who have had difficulties gauging water quality in rural areas due to travel limitations and technical expenses. Anticipated outcomes from the project include significant reductions in the incidence of waterborne diseases in over 20 communities, and broader community awareness of simple and effective water testing and water pasteurization techniques. A training was begun in June 2008 with officials and representatives from the Kenya Water Resources Management Authority and the Kenya Ministry of Health. This is the first time that these two government ministries have collaborated on a project like this, and we are thrilled to have their participation and support. Major funding for this program has come from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, for which we are very grateful! See August 2008 article in Solar Cooker Review. A photo blog of this project is also available.
*March 2008: Catherine Scott’s documentary film SUNCOOKERS, about Solar Cookers International’s efforts to spread solar cooking and solar water pasteurization in Kenya, won the alternative energy category at the 2008 EarthVision International Environmental Film Festival in Santa Cruz, California. Organizers state that the festival “seeks to raise consciousness about environmental issues, educate people and mobilize support. The films … instill concern for the issues they raise, and they seed enthusiasm for change in the audience. The festival encourages filmmakers to continue with their hard work, while providing a venue in which they can witness their accomplishments being celebrated.” More than 5,000 people have attended the events and screenings. Winning films are also shown throughout the year on community television, available to tens of thousands of households.
*March 2008: Louise Meyer reports on a group of internally displaced persons that are students at the Culinary Institute of Africa. As part of their curriculum they are learning how to solar cook. Meyer sent photographs of several students taking “Masters of Solar Cooking” classes at the Institute’s school in Juba, Sudan. Based in Lokichoggio, Kenya, the non-profit Culinary Institute of Africa is a community service division of the AFEX Group, which provides a number of management and catering services to camps throughout Kenya, Sudan, and elsewhere. The Institute began in 2004 when Terry Light, chief operating officer of AFEX, asked Nancy Crooks to train local Turkana with skills that could gain them employment at various camps and other institutions in the region. With technical assistance from Solar Cookers International (SCI), Crooks was able to incorporate solar cooker use and construction into the curriculum. The Institute offers an accredited, professional culinary education leading to a diploma in food production. SCI also provided training services and helped Crooks secure funding from the Lift Up Africa organization for a solar cooker project to teach Turkana women how to make and use solar cookers, heat-retention devices, and Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs), as well as start a small solar cooker shop.
*March 2008: Princeton University’s informal motto ends “… in the Service of All Nations,” an ideal being pursued by two undergraduate engineering students spreading solar cooking skills in Kenya and beyond. In 2005, Ishani Sud and Julianne Davis traveled to Laikipia, Kenya to introduce solar box cookers designed by Sud and classmate Lauren Wang, and to build solar cookers with appropriate local materials. To facilitate technology transfer, Sud and Davis chose to work with primary school students and hold special events to spark interest with parents. Covering topics in science, conservation and renewable energy, Davis taught elementary students in the Mpala Research Centre school, while Sud taught middle school students at the Lekiji public school. Lessons for the older students included a series of experiments, such as comparing black metal and white metal temperatures when exposed to sun, that helped them understand how solar cookers work and select appropriate construction materials. The locally available materials chosen for these cookers were Cyprus wood, aluminum sheet metal, glass, and black cloth as a box liner to absorb sunlight. Time was set aside each week for students to work on constructing their own solar cooker. More recently, Sud has returned to Kenya to continue her work on the project, and has launched a similar project at the Aang Serian school in Monduli, Tanzania.
*November 2007: Award-winning filmmaker Catherine Scott has completed an inspiring documentary titled SUNCOOKERS, now available on DVD. SUNCOOKERS follows Margaret Owino on a journey across western Kenya, visiting Solar Cookers International’s solar cooking projects in the Kakuma refugee camp and the community of Nyakach. Numerous DVD extras make this a must-have resource for solar cooks, educators, and advocates. SUNCOOKERS can be purchased on-line.
*November 2007: Solar Cookers International (SCI) will undertake a two-year pilot project to increase water quality awareness and introduce the Portable Microbiology Laboratory and the Safe Water Package to communities in western Kenya. The effort will be led by SCI founder and board member Dr. Bob Metcalf, professor of Biological Sciences at California State University, Sacramento. (More information.)
*November 2007: Camily Wedende, of Eldoret, Kenya, received a grant from Spirit in Action in support of his solar cooker shop. Wedende builds and sells durable plywood solar box cookers, and stocks various solar cooking supplies such as pots and instruction manuals in his shop. He also conducts solar cooking demonstrations and gives out samples.
*July 2007: Solar Health and Education Project (SHEP) reports holding workshops in both Zambia and Kenya for newly trained teachers preparing to go to remote villages on assignment. The workshops were five days long. The first day was used for basic education about solar cooking and solar water pasteurization, while the other four days were used to practice and implement solar cooking skills. The 70 participants all built their own solar cookers. Based on the success of these workshops two more have already been scheduled. SHEP has developed a relationship with Tetra Pak International — manufacturer of aseptic drink containers — whereby SHEP uses Tetra Pak’s excess foil-lined paper for solar cooker construction. (The foil-lined paper is printed in wide rolls, sometimes resulting in excess material begin generated.) According to SHEP, Tetra Pak is willing to accept proposals from other nongovernmental organizations that may want to use the reflective material as long as the material will be used for workshop participants to construct solar cookers.
*April 2007: Representatives of Sun Fire Cooking attended January’s World Social Forum in Nairobi, where they organized a group of activists to plan a three-part campaign of education, mobilization and networking for solar cooking. Sun Fire plans to open a solar cooking promotion center in Nairobi with support from Horn Relief, a nonprofit organization in Somalia. Meanwhile, Sun Fire Cooking continues its work spreading solar cooking in Puntland, Somalia, and plans to expand to the Hargeisa area. The organization also has experience in Djibouti, having sold 25 solar cookers there. Contact: Jim Lindsay
*February 2007: HEDON Household Energy reports on use of "cooking baskets" (retained heat cookers) in Kenya.
*November 2006: Based in Nairobi, AltEner is a "business with a philosophy" that promotes renewable energy and delivers custom solar energy solutions. In addition to solar cooking, the company works in the fields of solar water heating, solar electricity, wind energy, and energy planning and management. AltEner has installed large scale, concentrator-type cooking systems, based on the Scheffler community kitchen concept, in several countries. The company can also design high temperature trough solar cooking systems. Charles Onyango-Oloo, the principle force behind AltEner, wrote an interesting paper titled "The Special Challenges of Solar Cooking." In his paper, Onyango-Oloo urges solar cooking promoters to endorse a mix of technologies instead of only one type of cooker. "Because technology can be intimidating to the uninitiated, the technological simplicity or sophistication of the solar cooker should match the background of the prospective user as closely as possible to avoid ‘socio-technologic disconnect.’… Where promoters of particular technologies aim to justify their choices by playing down the role of other technologies in the appropriate technological matrix, the end result usually is an overall loss of faith in the entire process of solar cooking amongst the intended beneficiaries." Onyango-Oloo’s paper also urges that projects be designed in phases, so that lessons learned in early stages can be applied to later stages as the project grows. Contact: AltEner Energy Technologies, P.O. Box 8876-00300, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: +254 721-727830, e-mail: alternerkenya@yahoo.com.
*June 2006: Solar Household Energy, Inc.'s Director of Programs for Latin America and East Africa, Camille McCarthy, traveled to Kenya and Tanzania to meet with governmental agencies, NGOs, and private sector representatives to explore the feasibility of cooperative solar cooking ventures. Many groups expressed interest in SHE pilot solar cooking projects. SHE expects to conduct initial solar cooking training, marketing and sales projects in Kenya and Tanzania in early 2007.
*November 2004: Solar cooking takes off in Rae Girls Secondary School
*November 2004: Final Kakuma evaluation: solar cookers filled a critical gap
Category:Kenya