Storyline
A solar-powered oven is giving people in Kenya a cheap, healthy way to cook food. The simple contraption is an alternative to firewood and charcoal which are linked to harmful gases.
The box is set up outside, food is placed inside, and the lid is closed. The sun’s rays are reflected into the cavity, heating it up and cooking the meal.
“I used to use firewood for a longer time. I also realized that firewood gives us some problems, like lung problems. When there is a lot of smoke, it interferes with the lungs, therefore the breathing system becomes in very big problem and cannot be treated,” says Benta Achieng who likes this way of cooking because it’s healthier than traditional methods.
Achieng switched to the solar-powered oven two years ago. And she’s not the only one.
For street food vendor Ian Duncun Onyango, it’s part of his business. He cooks up boiled eggs and smokies (smoked sausages) for passersby in Nairobi. It saves him money and boosts his profits.
“The solar cooker is aiding me a lot since previously I was using the ‘jiko’ and the charcoal to boil my eggs and these days I am using it and it is from the power of the sun. I am boiling my eggs. I am saving the fuel and I’m saving some money to boost my stock and business. And I am also having customers from all over town. They are flocking here, they are saying my eggs are sweeter compared to how they were those days,” he says.
The local solar-powered oven was developed by entrepreneur Carolyn Olang. She saw an opportunity in the market for such an invention.
“The solar oven is an alternative use. We want to get people to stop using fossil fuel and that is why we have decided to use renewable energy, hence the solar-powered oven which is just a box and you use the sun to cook your food,” says Olang.
This article and video were provided by The Associated Press.
Script
[Benta Achieng, Migori resident, setting up her solar-powered oven and preparing a breakfast of boiled eggs and porridge]
Benta Achieng (interview): “I used to use firewood for a longer time. I also realised that firewood gives us some problems, like lung problems. When there is a lot of smoke, it interferes with the lungs, therefore the breathing system becomes in very big problem and cannot be treated.”
[Benta taking her porridge]
Benta Achieng (interview): “We used to cut trees. That forces us to have a very desert(-like) place, missing rainfall because trees attract rainfall. I tried to come out from that system of using firewood and I adapted to the solar oven cooking system. It is very safe, it is clean, it saves time I can use to do other things while food is going on preparing.”
[Vendor Ian Duncun Onyango preparing eggs and smokies using the solar-powered oven]
[Food in cart]
Ian Duncun Onyango (interview): “The solar cooker is aiding me a lot since previously I was using the ‘jiko’ and the charcoal to boil my eggs and these days I am using it and it is from the power of the sun. I am boiling my eggs. I am saving the fuel and I’m saving some money to boost my stock and business. And I am also having customers from all over town. They are flocking here, they are saying my eggs are sweeter compared to how they were those days.”
[Carolyn Olang, innovator and entrepreneur, and a man in her workshop]
Carolyn Olang (interview): “The solar oven is an alternative use. We want to get people to stop using fossil fuel and that is why we have decided to use renewable energy, hence the solar powered oven which is just a box and you use the sun to cook your food.”
[Olang and a man in her workshop making a solar-powered oven]
Carolyn Olang (interview): “The solar oven is easily produced because we use locally available materials -that is wood, for filling we use rice husks, old clothing blankets, a metal plate, ordinary kitchen foil and glass. The production cost, when you are not producing in bulk, is about maybe Ksh, 3,500 ($35) and I have got an introductory offer right now of Ksh, 5,000 ($50) because we are trying to break into the market.”
[Olang and a man in her workshop making a solar-powered oven]
Carolyn Olang (interview): “The advantages of the solar power (oven): one, it is free (referring to the sun). Two, it is smokeless. Three, it helps us convert the climate crisis because it reduces the use of firewood by about 40%, which for me is quite a good deal. The shortcomings are that during the rainy season, you can’t use it because you can’t put it out in the rain, and another thing, the sun won’t be shining throughout. But when you consider that in Africa more often than not it is sunny, sunny Africa, I think it is a good alternative to the traditional methods of cooking using firewood and charcoal which is what most households use.”
This script was provided by The Associated Press.
