TRANSFORMATIONAL TRIPS

SERVICE PROJECTS

Partners in Service projects are designed to maximize the benefits to grassroots organizations and individual families. We focus on efforts that support rather than compete with local initiatives.

Stove Building

Epidemiological research demonstrates that the two leading causes of mortality in our partner communities are upper respiratory infections and water born containments. These are both linked to the practice of cooking on open pit fires in tiny, unventilated homes.

These stoves improve the health wealth and environment of the community by channeling the thick smoke from cooking fires out of the unventilated brick dwellings. They are built with a chimney that carries smoke out of the house. They decrease the amount of money women must spend on cooking fuel because they are significantly more fuel-efficient. Finally the stoves improve the environment of the community by decreasing the amount of deforestation regionally. This is very important in improving the quality of drinking water, stabilizing weather patterns, maintaining topsoil and combating the erosion that slowly washed away their old village.

The importance of these stoves can be appreciated when one considers that the average cost for treating an upper respiratory infection is $65.00. With a family of six contracting an infection several times a year, it is easy to visualize the considerable difference these stoves make in the lives of rural Mayan families. Furthermore, the primary cause of fatality in recent natural catastrophes in Central America has been from mudslides linked directly to deforestation caused by the ravenous demand for cooking fuel.

The total cost of each stove is $200.00. This amount includes all materials, contract labor with local masons and the administrative cost of partner organizations. The stoves are not challenging to build and Guatemalan masons familiar with stove building assist volunteers.

Reforestation

There is a critical need to replace the vast tracts of forest that have disappeared throughout Central America. These forests are the most important element to halting soil erosion that contaminates local drinking supplies, washes away the valuable topsoil and often claims lives in massive mudslides. The forest is also important for stable weather patterns globally and counteracting greenhouse gasses causing global warming.

Our program focuses on reforesting areas of human occupation such as villages, towns and urban areas. Volunteers will have the opportunity to participate in various stages of reforestation from soil preparation and transplanting to working in the nursery.

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