Die Ofenmacher at Radio free FM

Interview with members Katharina und Frank at 31st March 2016 in the radio station Radio free FM in Ulm

Donation to offset CO2 emissions

Prolignis Energie Consulting donated 15oo Euros to the Ofenmacher offseting the complete CO2 emissions of their business activies in 2015 (A report, in German, can be found in the Donaukurier issue 16th March 2016)

Monitoring in Nepal

Tobias Federle, manager of the monitoring team in Nepal prepared a video on the field working practice and the beauty of rural Nepal.

Memorandum of Understanding for 2015

The Stovemakers and Swastha Chulo Nepal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the administration of the Gulmi district.  The MoU covers construction of more than 7 000 smoke-free stoves in Gulmi in 2015.   With this document the planning for 2015 is complete and agreed.
 
 
Focus of the activities is environmental protection in the districts of  Kavre-Palachok, Dolakha and Ramechhap as well as in Gulmi. Altogether we plan to build 13 000 new stoves in 2015.

Cooking fires kill millions of people each year!

Airpolution from primitive cooking fires kills more people than malaria.  That is the shocking result of a study, according to which nearly two million people die each year due to inhaling smoke in their own homes.  You can read the (German language) article in SueddeutscheSpiegel online or (in English) in Science Magazine.

D-Youth Football Team Oberessen Achieves a Top Score for the Stovemakers

During his time working at the hospital in Amppipal Markus Walder treated many children who had suffered severe burns in open cooking fires. Amppipal belongs to one of our project areas in the Gorkha district; so  Markus saw how clay stoves to help avoid such injuries.

Upon returning to Germany Markus had an idea to help the Stovemakers. Thanks to a generous donation from a private sponsor and the support of the players and parents of the D-youth football team of VfB Oberessen the team's football shirts now carry the Stovemaker logo!

Apart from being proud to advertise for our non-profit work the youth team also hosted an event to raise funds for the Stovemakers. During an open day (the "Hertmannsweiler Erlebnistage") on September 28th they organised a football games and charged guests one Euro to compete. The takings were donated to the Stovemakers. Motivated by the success of their fundraising the youth team went on to win a friendly match against the D-youth of Hertmannsweiler 5:0!

We Stovemakers are very proud of to have such enthusiastic support from young people. We wish the D-youth Oberessen success both in their further fundraising and of course on the pitch! Also the families who have safer and healthier lives thanks to having smokefree cooking stoves with the help of your donations a sincerely thank you!

For German readers see to the report in  Stuttgarter Zeitung of  14th August 2014

20.000 Stoves

At the end of April a milestone was reached.  In April we reported having built more than  20.000 stoves in Nepal!   That means around 120.000 people have safe, healthy cooking stoves - roughtly the population of cities like Wolfsburg or Fürth.  The Ofenmacher thank everyone who contributed to reaching this goal.

We are committed to increasing stove installations in future.  For this we continue to count on your support.

End of the first training in Ethiopia

The first stove-maker training in Ethiopia has been successfully completed.    Eighteen graduates received their certificates after two weeks of pratical and theoretical training.

Now they will start work  in Alem Ketema and the surrounding area. The Ofenmacher wish them luck and success in their new jobs.  May they provide many households with safe, healthy cooking stoves!

Report on Ethiopian Pilot Project

The German newspaper Wochenblatt printed a report on our pilot project in Ethiopia from the perspective of one of the participants.

Based on the success of the pilot and the positive feedbacks received the decision has been reached to start a pilot training for stove builders in Ethiopia in April.

2013 A Great Year!

2013 was the Stovemakers' most successful year to date!  Last year 4959 stoves were built bringing the grand total to 16696 stoves.

The start of the project in Gulmi and the ramp up of production in Kenya and Ethiopia were further milestones in our growth. 

Thanks to everyone who contributed towards these successes in 2013!  We wish you a happy new year and look forward to continuing the success story in 2014!

Ofenlösungen für Äthiopien

Im September, Oktober und November waren wir in Alem Katema, der "Welt-Stadt" im Hochland von Äthiopien.
Die Stadt ist ca. eine halbe Tagesreise mit dem Bus von der Hauptstadt Addis Abeba entfernt und hat etwa 20.000 Einwohner. Die Umgebung ist bergig und die Landschaft wunderschön.
 
Alem Katema selbst liegt auf einer Höhe von 2200 m. Das Klima war während unserer Zeit dort sehr angenehm zwischen 15 und 30 °C. Im Oktober und November ist Trockenzeit in Äthiopien. Die Flüsse der Umgebung haben sich hier tief ins äthiopische Hochland gefressen und formen eine sehr schöne und abwechslungsreiche Landschaft mit tiefen Gräben und steilen Felswänden, welche in Stufen immer wieder kleine Plateaus bilden. Jeder noch so kleine und unzugängliche Fleck Erde wird landwirtschaftlich genutzt. In Äthiopien gibt es mehrere Völker.
 

A Stove for Ethiopia

Injera is the main dish of the Ethiopians.  It is a flat bread made from teff wheat, prepared on a special hot-plate of around 60cm (2ft) Diameter, the socalled Met'ab.
 
The Nepalese stove design is not suitable for Injera.  Christoph, an experienced stove maker, designed a new stove especially for Ethiopia.  The new stove can be used both to bake Injera and to cook.
Äthiopienofen_3_272.JPG
A few days ago we fired up the prototye for the first time.  It works perfectly.  The Stovemakers were there could enjoy crêpes made on the provisional hot-plate.
 
The stove will be tested in Alem Katema in Ethiopia starting in September.   If it works well the roll out across Ethiopia can start.

Stovemakers on the road

Andrea, the editor of our newsletter presented us with a video as her "housewarming present".
 
With scenes from our outpost in Kathmandu as well as from daily life in the Nepalese hills it gives an impression of the work of the Stovemakers.

Elias has a Jiko

In March 2013 Erias was the first person in Kenya to receive a clay oven in the Nepalese style.

A few days after Installation Erias reported enthusiastically of his new stove called "Jiko". Altogether 7 pilot stoves were made.  All have served perfectly for the past two months.  Eria's enthusiasm was confirmed by the others.

After this successful pilot it is certain that we will start training the first stove makers in Kenya this year.

Smoke-free cooking stoves for Africa

The decision has been made!
The executive commitee and the members meeting approved the proposal to help provide smoke-free cooking stoves in Ethiopia and Kenia.

In the last weeks a preliminary investigation was completed in Ethiopia. First pilot stoves were installed in Kenia. In both cases the results were very encouraging.

The next steps will be planned according to the conditions in each country: For Ethiopia the stove design has to be adapted to the cooking methods prevalent there. The existing design can be used unchanged in Kenia. The first stovemakers will be trained shortly.

Household Air Pollution the Leading Risk in South Asia 

The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 has been published recently. It is a comparative assessment on the effect of risk factors for the disease burden in 21 regions in 1990 to 2010.

In most of Sub-Saharan Africa, household air pollution (HAP) was found to be the among the 3 leading risks together with childhood underweigth and suboptimal breastfeeding. In South Asia HAP is the leading risk. World wide HAP is ranked four.

See the summary and find more information here. Listen also to Dr. Lynn Goldman emphasizing the impact of HAP on the health of young children.

Advent Market in Steinsvorde

"Smoke-free stoves" was the central theme of the Advent Market in Steinsvorde this year. The Buschmanns, owners of The Tannenhof", offered the space for the market and donated the fees which the kiosk holders paid to our projects. That alone resulted in 800 Euro and correspondingly 100 smoke-free stoves.

Many people visited our kiosk (photo) and donated generously too ensuring many more families in Nepal can look forward to their new smoke-free stove.

Further photos of the event can be found in the press (Kreiszeitung).

Tales from Nepal

Do you remember the Stovemakers advent calendar from 2012?  Christa's tales were so ethusiastically received that we have decided to publish them again this year.

We've posted the entire collection as four tales on our virtual notice board for you to browse at your leisure.

Environmental Protection Project Accepted

Our project"Smokeless Cook Stoves for Rural Districts of Nepal" has been accepted by Gold Standard and is now a listed project. With this milestone we have taken a big hurdle towards authorisation.

With the inclusion in the project list Gold Standard has accepted the project and will continue with a detailed technical check. The next step towards recognition of the Stovemaker's contribution to global climate protection has been taken.

You can find the proceedings in the Gold Standard database under the registration number  GS1191.

The Nepalese stove in Bavaria is Ready

The Nepalese clay stove at the  bayerischen Zentrum für angewandte Energieforschung (The Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research - ZAE Bayern) has been operational for a few days.  We had to be patient especially as the times to dry the clay bricks and then the stove are somewhat longer in our autumn climate than in Nepal.

Last Saturday we finally fired up the stove for the first time, boiled a few liters of water and prepared maize for a snack. 

Now the stove has surived it's baptism of fire (literally ;-), it is ready for the measurements and demonstrations for which it was built.

Payback Points for Stoves

Since December 2009 PAYBACK members can not only use the collected points for bonuses. It is also possible to donate points to charitable projects.  As of today the Stovemakers is registered as a charitable project with PAYBACK.

You can donate your payback points directly to our project.  You can do that with a click on the PAYBACK logo on this page or on our "Suport Us Page".

Altogether members of the leading German bonus scheme donated PAYBACK points worth 2 million Euros to charitable projects in Germany and worldwide since this faciility was made available.

The PAYBACK donation cheme was implemented in co-operation with betterplace.org, Germany's largest donation platform. The value of the donated points is transferred completely (no discount or handling charge) to the relevant organisation.

Der Ofen steht

On Sunday 23rd of September 2012 we built a Nepalese clay stove on the premises of the  Bayerisches Zentrum für angewandte Energieforschung (The Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research - ZAE Bayern). The stove will be used for measurements and demonstrations.

ZAE_Garching_Arbeiter_250.jpg

Work began in August with the preparation of the site and the production of the bricks.  The bricks are made from clay formed in wooden templates.  They have to dry for several weeks before they can be used to build a stove.

 ZAE_Garching_Ziegelmachen_250.jpg
Finally on Sunday the bricks were ready for use.  In a few hours the main body of the stove and the chimney were constructed and the cooking plates were trimmed for the pots.  The exhaust via a metal pipe is the "European variant" as metal pipes are more readily available here than pottery pipes.
 
The stove has to dry for about three more weeks before it can be fired up for the first time.  Shortly after that we plan to enjoy a Dal Bhat cooked on our stove.
 
The Stovemakers thank all those who helped and the ZAE Bayern for providing the location and for their support.

 

Stakeholder Consultation Meeting Report

The report from Stakeholder Consultation Meeting held on 13th May 2012 in Kathmandu (siehe News from 16th May) is complete and has been submitted to Gold Standard. The document is an important prerequisite for the authorization of the climate protection project.

Interview with the Stovemakers

In March 2012  Christa Kubiessa (from Freiburg) held interviews in Kathmandu with members of the stovemakers executive commitee, Katharina Dworschak, Frank Dengler,  and with the manager of  Swastha Chulo, Anita Badal.  You can find the video of the interviews on Youtube.

A Nepalese Stove in Wiesbaden

On June 26th 2012 the first Nepalese smoke-free cooking stove was erected in Germany.   School children of class 5 of the Helene-Lange-Schule in Wiesbaden built it under guidance of Katharina Dworschak and Frank Dengler.

The preparations began weeks earlier.  Moulds for making the clay bricks had to be made in woodwork class.  The iron strengtheners had to be welded.  The cooking pots which are common in Nepal were specially imported.   Then the clay bricks were made and left to dry for several weeks.

On June 26th everything was ready.  About two dozen helpful, dexterous hands accompanied by project leader Frank Schulze managed to build the stove, similar to the 10.000 or so installed in Nepal, within a few hours.

The stove will be left to dry over the summer holidays.  It will be fired up for the first time for the UNESCO project day which the Helene-Lange-Schule is holding on the 19th of September. Then the project group will prepare Nepalese dishes and learn some more about the Nepalese way-of-life.

Nepal: 2 Milestones in 4 Days

The environment protection project of the Stovemakers has achieved two important goals:

On May 13th the Stakeholder Consultation Meeting was held at the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Kathmandu. More than 20 participants including Nepalese officials, representatives from impacted villages and other aid organisations reviewed the project and contributed comments and ideas on how to improve it. The Stakeholder Consulting Meeting is an important step toward approval for the project by Gold Standard.

After intensive negotiations with the responsible authorities concerning the assignment of the project areas an agreemenent with the Alternativ Energy Promotion Center (AEPC) was signed on May 16th. Our partner organisation Swastha Chulo Nepal is sole responsible for provision of clay stoves for 28 villages (VDCs) the the districts of Kavrepalanchok, Ramechhap and Dolakha.

Both events are important milestones on the route to authorisation of the environmental protection project by Gold Standard. The returns on sales of emission certificates should significantly extend our ability to provide smoke free stoves in the coming years.

Member's meeting of the Stovemakers

The first regular member's meeting of 2012 will take place on March 13th starting 19:00 in the restaurant  Yak und Yeti in Blücherstraße 1 in Munich.
Along with the annual report and the preview of activities in the coming 12 months, the next meeting will also address the election of the new executive committee of the Stovemakers.
All active members have a right to vote and have received a written invitation to the meeting.

Stovemakers Info-Evening

The first Info-Evening will start on 7th March at 17:30 in the FIZ Munich (address below).   The Info-Evenings are for all members and friends of the organisation and offer information on special topics and the latest developments in the Stovemakers at irregular intervals.
 
Topic of this first evening is an overview of the history and activities of the Stovemaker and of stove making.
 
The Info-Evening will be held in room 32 in the meeting zone of the "Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum" (FIZ - "Research and Innovation Center") of the BMW group in Knorrstrasse 147 in Munich.

Ten Thousand Stoves

The Stovemakers have cause for celebration: In January the ten-thousandth stove since start of our activites in 2005 was installed.  Altogether 65.000 people have profited from a safe and healthy stove. That's equivalent to having provided an entire town like Landshut or Weimar with new stoves.
 
The increasing rate of production in the last years is also encouraging. In 2010 2.500 stoves were installed, in 2011 3.200. We hope to achieve 4.000 stoves in 2012.  You can follow the ProgressStove Distribution here.
 
All this is only possible thanks to the constant support from our donors and sponsors and the tireless help of our members. Thanks to you all for making this milestone possible.

The Stovemakers at the CMT fair

The Stovemakers were present in the CMT fair in Stuttgart on the weekend of 14th and 15th January. Our sponsor DAV Summit Club invited us onto their stand in hall 9 (Bike- & Adventure Tours for Wanderers).

CMT_220.JPG

Many thanks to DAV Summit Club for this opportunity to present our activities to a large audience.

Art exhibition at Dentforme GmbH

In the run up to Christmas 2011 Dentforme Zahnersatzhandel GmbH organized an art exhibition with works from the artist Michael Jäck from Frankfurt.  The proceeds were donated to the Stovemakers.

See the report in Zahnarzt Woche (Ausgabe 51-52/11, 21. Dezember 2011): .

The Stovemakers in the Radio

On December 4th the German radio station "Bayern5 Aktuell" transmitted a report about the Stovemakers as part of the program "intercultural magazine".

Podcast is of the program which was trasnmitted between 13:05 and 13:30 on the 4th is available online.  The report about the Stovemakers starts about 10 minutes and 20 seconds into the podcast.

A further transmission went out via Bayern 1 and Bayern 2 on December 27th and 28th.

BMW Group Award for the Stovemakers

This year "BMW Group Award for social initiatives by employees" was awarded for the first time. The Stovemakers were among the five groups to be rewarded.  According to the (German language) press report, the jury was impressed by the extraordinary combination of professional competence and private engagement.

We see this award as confirmation of our work to date and as a motivation for our future endeavours.

Transfer of responsibilities to Swastha Chulo Nepal

Representatives Interplast Germany, Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital, Swastha Chulo Nepal and the Stovemakers met on 11th November 2011 in the SKM Hospital in Sankhu near Kathmandu. During this meeting the SKM Hospital transferred the remaining responsibilities to Swastha Chulo. With this transfer Swastha Chulo Nepal is the sole contact organisation of the Chulo-Projekts and the official partner organisation of the Stovemakers in Nepal.
 
The Stovemakers wish Ms Anita Badal, the CEO of Swastha Chulo, success and happiness in her new role and give our thanks to Ms. Mamata Raj Singh and Mr. Bhola Bista for their invaluable services to the Chulo-Projekt in the last two years. We also thank Interplast Germany for their support initiating and fostering this project.

Research in the countryside

Two of the Stovemakers friends, Julia and Marcus, were on the road in the Ramechap district at the end of September to monitor and research stove production. They were accompanied by David, their guide and translator. They could not completely reach their targets due to the heavy monsoon but despite (or because of) that their report is very interesting.

Swastha Chulo is registered

Our partner organisation, Swastha Chulo Nepal (SCN), was officially registered in Nepal on 13th June 2011.  That was the critical net step to allow the organisation to take up it's work.

On 29th June the registration as affiliated member of the Social Welfare Council was completed. This allows SCN to work with foreign organizations like the stove makers.

Founding of a Stovemakers NGO in Nepal

The inauguration meeting of the partner-NGO (Non Government Organisation) of The Stovemakers took place on April 14th in Kathmandu. The initial team consists of 8 people.

Kul Prakash Maskey, Chairman
Kedar Raj Silwal, Vice Chairman
Saraswoti Bhandari Bista, Treasurer
Rabin Bista, Secretary
Anita Badal, General Manager
Dr. Siddharta Ranjit
Sanchit Dangol
Raju H. Bajracharya

Their first task is to register the NGO. The local management of the stove manufacturers and the consistent, reliable collation of statistics on built stoves should be greatly improved by the new organisation. A further important task will be supporting and advising households on the correct use and maintenance of the stoves.

With the founding of the new organisation we now fulfil the formal criteria for certification as a gold standard CO2 project. With our presence and capacity in Nepal we are also able to execute the next steps towards certification.

The new organisation will be called "Swastha Chulo Nepal", in English "Healthy Stoves".