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The stove requires less wood so children spend less time gathering wood and have more time to attend school.
Gathering wood is usually done by children and takes as much as 3 hours every day.
The DelAgua stove is distributed to rural communities who have been dependent on large quantities of wood to fuel their 3 stone fires. Gathering this wood is labour and time intensive and a major factor in the disruption of children’s education, in particular girls who are more likely to bear the brunt of fuel gathering. The UN estimates less than 40% of girls in sub-Saharan Africa complete lower secondary school and the WHO reports that time spent gathering wood, tending the fire and protecting younger siblings from the fire all reduce girls’ own time to study and increases their risk of dropping out of school altogether.
Children have to search long and hard to find enough wood from depleting forestry.
Traditional fires require large pieces of wood and children are competing with other families to find this scarce resource.
This time consuming but essential daily chore means children often miss school, their education is interrupted and as a consequence not completed.
Time spent gathering wood is cut by 71% so children can attend school regularly.
That’s because the DelAgua stove uses 71% less wood and needs only small pieces of tinder and twig to burn. In addition, because the stove lights easily and burns efficiently cooking times are shortened which further frees up children’s time as they also frequently tend the fire.
For those families who buy their firewood, the DelAgua stove saves money which can be spent on education.
Households require 71% less wood so make an immediate 71% saving on wood expenditure, the fourth biggest household expense in Rwanda. Families can use this money to support their children’s education and buy school books. Regular school attendance with the right resources means the children of rural Rwanda are getting the quality of education they need to thrive in the future.
The project is funded by the sale of carbon credits. Help more children attend school, provide more life-changing stoves, offset your carbon footprint and buy carbon credits directly from DelAgua, via the UNFCCC site.
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