How will fuel efficient stoves help Rwanda?

Rwanda is a tiny country in the middle of Africa, about the same size as Hawaii. But it has 10 million people – that’s a lot of people in such a small area!

There are lots of mountains, but not many trees. So there are lots of people who need wood to cook, but not much wood to cook with. Fuel efficient stoves will use less than half as much wood, so people will cut down fewer trees and save the environment!

Helping Kids

The last 20 years have been very hard for Rwanda. Many, many people died in wars and from diseases. There are many thousands of orphans. Many of the orphans have lots of younger brothers and sisters they have to look after. A lot of young people who should be in school have to work very hard to feed their families. Green Stoves will give these young people more time to study or to work and support their families.

Helping Gorillas

Gorilla Photos Courtesy of Richard A. Muller

Among the most famous residents of Rwanda are the mountain gorillas. Every year many tourists climb the mountains to see these wonderful, rare and endangered creatures. If too many trees are cut down then the gorillas will have nowhere to live and no food to eat – then there will be no gorillas left. This would be terrible for the gorillas and also for the people of Rwanda. Tourists are good for them as they bring money to the country that can be used to build houses, clinics and schools.

Update on Rwanda Fuel Efficient Stoves

CHF International appreciates the Disney Foundation's generous donation to launch this program. CHF International has begun important work to provide families in Rwanda with fuel efficient stoves. So far, we have completed a research report on what the best way to go about this is. Things we have discovered are that there are many craftsmen and women living in Rwanda who will help create the stoves, and we are finding many people that want to use them. We are going to focus, for example, on providing orphans with these stoves to give them a more stable source of food. Our next steps are going to include making the stoves and handing them out to the people who need them.

Want to save the environment?
Want to help kids like you, but less fortunate?
Want to save gorillas?