- Around 3 billion people cook and heat their homes using open
fires and leaky stoves burning biomass (wood, animal dung and crop
waste) and coal.
- Nearly 2 million people die prematurely from illness attributable to indoor air pollution from household solid fuel use.
- Nearly 50% of pneumonia deaths among children under five are due to particulate matter inhaled from indoor air pollution.
- More than 1 million people a year die from chronic obstructive
respiratory disease (COPD) that develop due to exposure to such indoor
air pollution.
- Both women and men exposed to heavy indoor smoke are 2-3 times more likely to develop COPD.
These facts are from the World Health Organization's website:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/
The families in Las Flores, Quimistan, Honduras are part of the 3 billion around the world cooking with leaky stoves. In order to decrease indoor air pollution, families need chimney's installed on their wood burning stoves. Many families have makeshift chimneys from sheet metal which help to remove some smoke. The downside of these is that they are never taller than the roof so the smoke often enters back in the house through the space between the walls and the roof.
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| A makeshift chimney in Las Flores |
In order to decrease the indoor air pollution in Las Flores, Gather Church in Centralia, WA collected funds to cover costs of chimneys. Each chimney cost about $18. For each family to receive the chimney donation, we asked that they too make a donation. Most of the families initially responded by explaining their poverty and saying that they had nothing to give. We requested at least one pound of anything (corn, beans, firewood, coconuts, etc) to take to Worldwide Heart to Heart Children's Village. After hearing this the families were thrilled because they knew they all had something they could contribute. Not one family brought in the minimum requirement. Instead, they gave their absolute best and brought way more than we expected!
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| Two mothers coming to get the chimneys for their homes |
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| Taking a chimney to his elderly mother |
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| Santos with her donation for Heart to Heart |
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| A newly installed chimney in Las Flores |
We ended up with about 30 bananas, 20 plantains, 150 lbs of corn, 20 pears, fire wood, and some great Honduran vegetables (pacallas, pataste, yuca, and ocote) that blessed Heart to Heart children. We know that God is pleased when we give our best to Him. We are so thankful for Gather church and the people of Las Flores for reminding us to give our best to the Lord.
