Sustainable stoves in Guatemala.

• Author: Wyels, Joyce Gregory
• Position: IOjo!

IT'S UNLIKELY THAT retired engineer Donald O'Neal ever expected to have a stove named after him, or to shake hands with Britain's Prince Charles. But that's exactly what happened as a result of his work with HELPS International, a non-profit, non-denominational organization that has provided assistance to people in impoverished rural communities for the last quarter-century.

Among other programs, HELPS sends medical teams to Guatemala on a regular basis. Volunteer doctors, dentists, surgeons, nurses, and other professionals fired their own travel to provide medical services--including a full range of surgical procedures--to communities in the highlands. Villagers often trudge long distances to wait patiently for medical treatment.

Early on, the medical teams noted a prevalence of respiratory illness in the population. "It's a leading cause of death among children under five," says O'Neal, who cites as a cause the smoke and soot of cooking fires in poorly ventilated dwellings. Because they spend a good part of their time inside, women and young children are especially vulnerable.

What's more, children sometimes tumble into the open fire and end up with serious burns. Excessive use of wood for the fires also contributes to deforestation, and this means either longer journeys to find and carry back heavy loads of wood, or a substantial share of family income going to purchase firewood.

This is where O'Neal's expertise comes in. Having volunteered with HELPS, O'Neal saw the possibility of using technology to solve several problems simultaneously. He designed a stove that would raise the fire off the floor, reduce pollution, and use only a fraction of the firewood needed for an open fire. Then he trained and contracted with eight village women to test the stove for one year and fine-tuned it according to their recommendations. The reward for the women was to keep the stove at...