CHITETE-ZO STATIONED STOVE “PROTOTYPE”

If you read my previous blog post you will remember that Monday the 4th of July is  the day I scheduled to start doing the prototypes for the improved stoves in the IWETI Project with the women in my community. Well, it has been a very much motivating and adventurous journey working so closely with the women in this amazing project so far. The women continue to portray and show their keenness in knowing how to produce the improved stoves and their commitment is undying. I am continuously thrilled by their passion to learn and be empowered. Just imagine that even after we agreed to convene on Monday 8am at one of the group member’s residence, some women came 30 minutes early, wow! For today, do allow me to write less and show you more of what we did with the women as we get the IWETI Project on course.

Last week when I met the women, we agreed to do a prototype for the Stationed Improved Stove on Monday the 4^th of July 2016. It is amazing to see that the women are so much committed in making this project a wonderful success. I must confess that I never foresaw the women’s commitment to this magnitude. I somehow could doubt if the women would really be this much interested especially after working with my community in other endeavors for the past 5 months I have been volunteering here.

The climax of the day was when the women and I were discussing on a possible name to give to our Improved Stoves, stationed or moveable. See, “Improved Stoves” is an English word, and I did encourage the women to think of an interesting name which is local and will mean something to them and our community. One woman suggested that we call these stoves “Mwaiwathu Mbaula” meaning our fortune/luck. Another one suggested that we called it “Chitete Mbaula”; remember Chitete is the name of our community. We opted for “Chitete Mbaula” with a little modification that led to the creation of “Chitete-zo Mbaula.” Why Chitete-zo Mbaula?  Well, the women thought that this name is unique and particular to them since they originate from Chitete and that and additional of “-zo” to the name “Chitete” would denote their originality and the word Chitete-zo translate to protection. Remember that I highlighted the advantages of the improved stoves in my previous posts. These stoves are able to reduce fire related accidents in homes, and most importantly protect the environment through their ability to emit less smoke and their usage of less firewood thus having a huge positive impact on the environment. We have produced a prototype for the Stationed Chitete-zo Mbaula. The prototype was made by the women and myself at Mirriam Molande’s residence, a very dedicated member of this group. Mirriam Molande (Mai Molande) does not have a kitchen currently and cooks at an open space as shown in the picture below

Mai Molande's cooking place 

This has been affecting her since she is always supposed to gather a lot of firewood to cook with her traditional three-stone fire to feed her six children. Mai Molande informed us that due to the coming of the stationed stove at her house she will proceed to construct a kitchen to house the Stationed Chitete-zo Mbaula which the group has made for her since she cannot be using it in the open space. This is so amazing that we can make a difference in the lives of women like Mai Molande.  

Every woman gave a hand in making this stove while in the process learning. By now I believe that every member has the knowledge of how to construct this stove. The learning process will continue as we will all as a group move from house to house of each group member making the stoves.

women working on our stationed Chitete-zo mbaula

By the end of the Day we agreed to have a committee for this team and we came up with positions which are as follows; Chairlady - Sarah Yohane, Secretary - Getrude Mnenula, Treasurer - Cecilia Chikuse, and Marketing Managers - Mirriam Molande and Esther Kainga. We have included marketing positions since there will be a need for this team to be searching for markets to sell these stoves. I will therefore work hand in hand with the entire committee and the marketing team in finding good markets for our Stoves.

We later left the produced stove to dry for two days and so we have agreed to reconvene on Wednesday July 6, 2016 to check on the stove and celebrate the success of our prototype.

a finished product of Chitete-zo Mbaula produced by the women

Wednesday also happens to be Malawi’s Independence Day making it a double celebration. On this day we are geared to produce the second prototype for the movable Chitete-zo Mbaula.

Enjoy the pictures 

a Group photo after the mbaula production

another group shot

me and the women

The women after a wonderful job

our first steps in setting up the place for the mbaula

mixing the clay

serious business 

sharing technical knowledge 

measuring the place for the Mbaula

Mai Kainga clearing the area

Mai Chikuse mixing the clay

serious works

what a beautiful product we made :)

we did it