Hillarysworld

Jen the Michigander wrote:

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I know, this is something that we don't even think about in the USA or in other Western countries. People in the developing world have to deal with so many day-to-day challenges that even the poorest of the poor in the USA do not have to face.

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Yes.  US people are blissfully unaware of the realities of the world... especially of women in the world.

I was myself born in a house with wooden stove on the ground.  I tried to look for a picture of one that may look like it, and there is none on bing.  Let me explain... Inside the house, in the kitchen, there is about a half a foot high platform that is about 6 feet wide and 2 feet deep. That is made of earth (kind of like adobe mound but without hay) with two front holes through which to put wood. Pots were put on top of the opening to cook.  I recall vividly the day my dad built up two knee high wall and laid a large plank of wood to call it a kitchen counter top and we got a kerosine stove. Wow!  What an excitement it was!  We kids thought we have arrived into the advanced world (and it was more advanced than anyone else in our extended family then in the early 1970's.  Then we had a kerosine stove fire.  We were able to contain it quickly as we all brought water and poured on it.  No, there is no fire service that you can call... and no, there was no telephone. What's worse, there was no water inside the house. We had to draw water from the well - you know one of those with long rope and a pail attached. Yep!!   What a mess.  Thankfully it was minimum damage.  But there was no alternative then to kerosine.. we continued with kerosine stove for many more years before we got cylinder (contained) gas stove - like the cylinders we use here for outdoor cooking... which they still use to this day in combination with a counter-top two-pair stove.  And, by the way, that is in a very comfortable middle class household. That is the most there is. Most people still use kerosine or/and wood.

Below is a typical kitchen scene in India even today in poorer households.

Cooking in the kitchen on a small stove on the floor.

The biggest impact of this is on women.  It is not easy to cook with these.. and it is incredibly dangerous.  Many unintended accidents happen.. and more seemingly unintended... which is very sad.

In India, where women had right to vote from Day-1 of the nation's Independence, women suffer from economic inequalities like nowhere else.  Socially, in many small circles which are rapidly increasing, women are able to hold their own... Education has made a huge impact on this.  But there is no system of natural gas lines and there is no electricity enough to power their cooking need - electricity is stinking expensive, and there are no electrical cooking things even available.  Meanwhile, India has a HUGE opportunity to improve its energy use. There are many initiative under way in India on this.

Clean cooking stoves are both a health hazard, a fire waiting to happen and a very poor energy use.  Because it is the tool of the women, it is ignored... and women often do not know how to clean it. Well, cleaning it is not eay if you want to clean without spilling kerosine and contaminating indoor air or ground around your house - with high monoon, spilled kerosine can easily get into ground water.


-- Edited by Sanders on Sunday 26th of September 2010 10:44:39 AM