A project sponsored by the Minnesota Chapter, alumni and friends —

Smokeless stoves work to provide an economical and healthy alternative to the common stove used in homes in the rural areas in and around Kodaikanal. Every week, a handful of KIS students work together with a mason to install one or more smokeless stoves. We start off by making the cement that will later help to secure the stove in place. We then help the mason to level the height of the stove by placing rocks and covering everything up with cement, once again leveling to make sure the stove looks presentable and neat. The mason does the final touch-up, perfecting the edges and the cementing of the stove, and finally glazes the stove to give it a clean, polished look. The mason comes back a few days later to install the last component of the stove, the pipe, which extends through the roof, allowing most of the smoke generated while cooking to go out of the house, reducing the amount of air pollution inside the respective houses, and creating a healthier environment with a significant reduction of respiratory problems.

Last semester, from August to November 2015, we [KIS students] have installed 13 smokeless stoves in our local community, to families with young children.”

As the student sponsors of the Smokeless Stove Project, we are really grateful for the funding that the KFI has provided as it helps us so much! We usually have to depend on money we raise ourselves which is a lot of hard work and very time consuming and doesn’t really get us a lot of money. Having the KFI fund frees us up to concentrate on installing the stoves. We want to really thank you for helping us make a difference in the lives of our local people.

~Neha Shajan ‘17 & Susannah Francis ‘17

 

Update: 24 May 2016

As of the last day of school for the second semester of the 2015/16 academic year:

  • 12 stoves were installed
  • Rs 35,795 was spent, leaving a balance of Rs 3,96,205
  • Cost per stove has increased to Rs 2,100/stove (includes costs, installation, and transportation)
  • The project can move forward when the 2016/17 school year begins!

 

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