Kickstarter

Happy New Year!

We are now two months into our time here in Kenya! Here is an update of our recent activities on the Kenya Stove Project.

Payan and I had a great trip to Baringo to meet with the Rehabilitation of Arid Environments Charitable Trust (RAE). We visited several areas in Baringo with dense Prosopis julifora, and spoke with community members about the impact of this species on communal land. RAE has agreed to work with our project to secure sustainable supplies of Prosopis julifora while helping land managers utilize the species as a cash crop.

Additionally we have been conducting stove testing and controlled cooking tests with fuel from Baringo with volunteer cooks. I have enjoyed learning how to cook traditional Kenyan dishes with our stove and the Kenya Ceramic Jiko while Payan has enjoyed the taste tests.  Feedback on the stove design, performance, and price point has been very positive and we look forward to continuing to test our stove with a wider range of cooks.

Happy Holidays from Kenya! 

We are excited to share our progress so far and show photos of the official Kenya Stove which was showcased at the Kenya Agricultural Research Center end-of –year event.

During our time here we have made great progress. We have sourced materials for the stove and modified the design to accommodate locally-sourced metal and user feedback. We have also visited several clay factories in Nairobi and met with individuals from USAID, the Peace Corps, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the Sanata Charitable Trust, Green Empowerment, Cookswell and the Energy Regulatory Commission of Kenya as well as jua kali artisans and local cooks to discuss various aspects of our stove and fuel project. Our tools cleared customs after several weeks and we are in the process of setting up our workshop. 

Thank you for following the progress of our project and for your support these past few months! Wishing you every happiness in 2013! 

Erin and Payan

Here are some photos of the US stove production projects to make the rewards for our $100-level and $500-level backers. We designed, tested, then produced, packed, and shipped these stoves as scheduled and have already heard some great feedback. While the Kenya Stove for our Kickstarter backers was made with 304 stainless steel, the stove designed for Kenyan cooks will be constructed using ceramic fuel chambers and other low-cost, yet durable and design-appropriate materials available in Kenya. 

We've gotten to work!  We're making rewards and putting things in motion for Kenya.  Sustainable Oregon walnut cutting boards are ready to ship, here are some images of the production: