For several years, we have been searching for a sustainable method of cooking food and boiling water for the families in the Lake Victoria region. Using wood or charcoal for stoves is unsustainable for both the local economy and the environment. Often families need to spend a big part of their monthly income buying fuel.

When fuel is not available, everybody in the family has to drink untreated water full of germs with serious consequences to their health. Some must resort to eating uncooked cassava – a staple food in the area, which is very hard to digest and often makes them sick.

The environment is suffering enormously from all the trees that are cut for fuel, to the point that the Tanzanian government has deemed it illegal to cut trees and sell wood and charcoal without a permit. The deforestation is so great that the government is not even issuing permits at this time.Yet many people continue cutting trees (legally and illegally) as a way to generate some income, leaving a barren environment.

At GRA, we have explored alternative sources of fuel for cooking, mainly biogas, jatropha oil and efficient wood stoves. Each one of these presents challenges of being either complicated, expensive or difficult to implement.

During our trip to Musoma, Tanzania in October 2008, we learned of some people in town using Solar Cooking with good results. We met brother Sergio, from the Catholic Dioceses, and he was very excited about this approach. We decided to partner and organize a workshop in Musoma.

We contacted Solar Cookers International’s East Africa Office, and they responded very positively to our suggestion to come and teach the local community. In a couple of weeks we were able to organize the first Solar Cookers class with more than 30 participants who were selected among the top leaders and enthusiasts in their communities.

Solar cooking is very simple and inexpensive. It requires sun and time, two commodities abundant in the Tropics. During the training we learned how to solar cook almost any kind of food, as well as how to “pasteurize” water, which involves bringing the water to a temperature that kills germs and makes it safe to drink. We also learned how to build our own solar cooking kits. Everyone built a solar cooker and was able to purchase it at a subsidized price, and start cooking at home.

In January 2009, GRA and Solar Cookers International (SCI) co-sponsored, in collaboration with SCI East Africa and brother Sergio, a training for trainers that lasted 5 days and expanded our knowledge on the subject. We learned other skills like how to test the quality of water with simple testing kits, and how to make fireless cookers (or hay baskets) that can keep the food warm for many hours after solar cooked, or even complete the cooking process once started in the solar cookers. 

Since then, GRA has sponsored over a dozen workshops in Musoma and surrounding villages for both trainers and people who just wish to cook at home. In September 2009, SCI's Director of International Program Development, Karyn Ellis, from California, and the Director of SCI Eastern Africa, Margaret Owino, taught at a trainer of trainer's held at our office in Musoma. They lead an advanced course for more than 20 certified teachers with emphasis in training other members of the community in solar food preparation techniques and water pasteurization, as well as creating income generating opportunities with solar cooking for themselves.

Due to our collaboration with SCI, we have been able to purchase the raw materials from SCI East Africa and sell them at our cost, so that locals can afford to buy them. At the moment, we are selling the solar cooking materials to build a cooker for about $4. We have to thank SCI East Africa for providing the aluminum foil for free to help keep down the cost.

GRA Tanzania has a beautiful office space on a half acre compound provided for free by the government in support of our activities. Here we are able to store the solar cooking materials, provide solar cooking classes, teach permaculture, host orphan programs and store equipment for the GRA water project –Maji Mengi.

We are very excited about the Solar Cookers project and will continue collaborating with SCI East Africa and SCI in the US to organize follow up workshops in Musoma. More training will be required for graduates to learn further how to promote solar cooking, train others and run small businesses that will generate an income so the project can continue growing and expanding.