Hope Spot 39 – What’s Cooking?

Our oven died three weeks ago. 

I think it was an overload of deliciousness from my slow-cooked rosemary and garlic lamb roast.

A man came to fix it … but had to order a part … and managed to order the wrong part … and when I called him today, he said “It’s on the way” … which sounded to me a lot like “The cheque’s in the mail.” (Though that excuse won’t work anymore, as banks phase out cheque books. Sigh.)

My oven looks a lot different to the stove Pascasie in Burundi used to have to use, an open fire, inside her family’s house.

Now, while my Grandma used to insist her mallee-root-burning cast iron stove was the only way to get six inch high light-as-a-feather sponges and spectacular cream puffs …

… Pascasie’s open fire ‘stove’ was a nightmare.

It used large amounts of wood … that took hours to gather … ruined the environment … and wasted time that could have been used for building an income.

Meanwhile, the smoke inside the hut damaged Pascasie’s eyes and her family’s lungs.

The new stove uses 1/10^th of the firewood, and cuts the amount of dangerous smoke.

Plus, Pascasie says the food tastes better because it cooks hotter and faster, and she can keep it warm if necessary.

The new stove is so good, I’ll give you the ‘recipe’ so you can make one at home.

You’ll need:

• 36kg termite mound soil
• 10kg clay
• Two small bundles of herbs
• 10kg river sand
• 5kg cow dung
• 5kg ash
• 40 litres water
• 4 pieces banana trunk
• 40 fired bricks, each 20 x 10 x 5cm

You should end up with something that looks like this:

Too hard? You can simply give a $7 Gifts of Grace stove…

… and families in Burundi like Pascasie’s will take care of everything else. Pascasie says:

“… you supported me to build this new improved stove.
You showed why we need it, and how it will work.
Then you sent a technical expert
and helped with the resources to build it.

I like to cook beef, rice and beans on my stove.
You make things better for us. Thank you!”

The way things are going with my oven, I may have to start looking for termite mound soil and cow dung too! 😊

Thank you for being ‘fired-up’ to help people through ALWS. You’re welcome to sneak-peek Gifts of Grace now, and give a $7 fuel-efficient stove to be a blessing ALWayS.

Now, let’s get cooking!

PS: Your printed Gifts of Grace catalogue is planned to arrive next fortnight, along with your FREE Children’s Book Nathan and the Fluffy Fertiliser Factory! You can find out more about $7 fuel-efficient stoves here. Thank you!