Losing hope at Common Hope and Reflection

Hoping to gain some valuable insight into stove projects in rural Guatemala, I set up a meeting with the clean stove project leader, Narciso, at Common Hope just outside of Antigua last Monday. I had heard great things about the organization’s appropriate technology implementation methods and was hoping to get some ideas for HiA. I knew that they offered tours of their projects and weren’t hesitant to take guests to the project sites with them. I wanted to find out:

• How they chose their communities
• What kind of assessments they started with to determined what the communities needed
• Exactly how they implemented their technologies
• If they did any follow up assessments
• What kind of stoves they were using/how they were built

My new buddy, Julio, who has been my chauffer to and from Animal AWARE, joined me for the meeting because he is writing his thesis on the amount of usable wood you can get from a tree and how it can be used. We arrived to find a huge ‘compound’ with buildings and playgrounds and random booths with women displaying textiles and a construction zone. Common Hope (‘Familias de Esperanza’) has a huge community program with its own schools and teachers and everything.

Because of an internal miscommunication, Narciso did not know we were coming and was on his way out to a project site to deliver some materials. Fortunately, he offered for us to join him on the quick trip so we got to see a school where they were in the process of constructing a stove. The school project was out of the ordinary for Common Hope because they typically work with communities only and they ask that the community members build their own stoves with the provided materials. At the school, they had to deliver the materials AND build the stove…and when Narciso asked the women who worked at the school to mix some mortar; they complained that he should be doing the work because they didn’t know how to do it. Fortunately Narciso stood by the agreement that they had made with the school and insisted that they at least help with that.

While we were visiting the school I set out to get my questions answered. I found out that they just work with any and every community near Antigua to implement the stoves. I’m not sure I agree with this method. They have implemented 500 stoves in and around Antigua. While it seems that they are doing great things for these communities, it was not the community members themselves who sought out the help for improvements. At the same time, while they have an exceptional implementation method, they don’t seem to have a follow-up assessment beyond an 8 day period immediately following the construction where they check to make sure the stoves are working. Because of this, there is no way to get feedback on the stoves or to find out if the families are actually using them. This problem was made clear by the school that we visited. They already had a stove previously but it was too high for the women to use because they move heavy pots that are half as tall as they are when they are cooking so they were burning themselves. They requested that Common Hope come back in and rebuild the stove a foot lower. Sure, a school may be bold enough to make this kind of request, but how many of the 500 families with Common Hope stoves would actually come forward with a complaint about the donation and how many would just stop using them because they don’t want to complain about what they’ve been given.

Their initial implementation, however, is quite clever. They require that each family donate 10-20 hours of service at the Common Hope compound in exchange for a stove. Additionally, the family needs to build their own stove provided the material donation from Common Hope. This way it is not just a gift for the family but rather a business exchange. In order to train the families in a community, they hold a training session where they pay about 15 community members from different families Q100 each to learn how to construct stoves. In turn, each trainee needs to hold a training session to teach 15 other community members how to construct the stove. This method is effective at spreading the knowledge and it seems to work out really well for Common Hope. The expenses are high though because the organization has to shell out Q900-1700 per stove, an expense that the community members themselves could never afford if an organization like Common Hope were not around.

There are two types of stoves that they implement. The cheaper of the two is called an Onil stove and it is constructed of 12 blocks, some mortar, some bricks, a metal chimney, and a very expensive ‘plancha’ (the stove top part). These are considered the most simple of the stove designs and they are quite effective at conserving wood. A measure of wood that normally lasts less than a month will last around 7 months using these stoves.

They also have a more expensive stove called the Lorena designed and purchased from HELPS International (for up to Q1700) and the height of this stove can be adjusted to accommodate the short stature of most Mayan women.
Common Hope is working on a design for a third type of stove that would be constructed in the bottom half of a metal barrel and would function similarly to the others. While the design is simpler and a little cheaper, it would still run over Q700 (still not affordable by the average family who makes next to nothing). Regardless of cost and other issues, it is a fact that many women and children die of lung related diseases because they cook over open fires in their homes. These stoves certainly diminish that risk and they also reduce burns from accidents around the open fires and minimize the need for a constant supply of firewood.

Leaving Common Hope, I was mildly discouraged by the outrageous cost of the stoves as I knew HiA could never implement these stoves community wide because we don’t have the funding sources for such a large project and the community we work with has next to no income. It was a great experience, though, to learn about the construction of such stoves so I have a better understanding of their function and structure as we continue to research more sustainable designs.

As it was Lauren’s last day in Antigua so we made the big hike up the hill that overlooks Antigua to La Cruz. From there, we had the best view of the whole city and Volcan de Agua.

Then we passed by La Pila (where they wash their clothes) and went to the roof of Cafe Sky for a great panoramic view of the clearing skies over Volcan de Fuego to the west, Agua to the south, and Acatenango to the north.

We also hit up Yogen Fruz one final time...she was an addict...
Later that night, we went out to dinner with Julio and had some pretty heavy conversation about the war followed by a review about our favorite and least favorite things about Guatemala so far.

Good

1. Camionetas: I love trying to fit in with the locals on these buses. It makes me feel just a little daring to ride the notorious ‘chicken buses.’
2. Antigua: I feel at home here in Antigua. One of the safer cities in Latin America because it is geared toward tourists, sometimes I feel like I’m in Kerrytown, Ann Arbor. Everything is within walking distance and easy to find, the roads and sidewalks are impossible to walk or drive on, and there is always something to do.
3. Lago Atitlan: Not only is this one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, I simply had a good experience there. It is incredibly relaxed when you’re not in Pana, they have some serious community development projects underway that will serve as excellent resources in the future, and when you want the cheap souvenirs (how about a $12 hammock) Pana is the place to go.
4. Xela Bookstore: One thing I love about staying at backpackers hostels is that they always have a table full of brochures of the coolest attractions around. From a 13-meter burrito fundraiser to a hole-in-the-wall English bookstoreto the free salsa classes and the Xela Who that explained the way to say “I have to pee/poop” in multiple degrees of vulgarity. The bookstore though was an amazing little 8 foot by 10 foot room that looked like a scene from Beauty and the Beast. There were ladders leading you up to the 7th and 8th and 9th shelves of books. Books were categorized into classics, politics, regional, and more. I went in looking for two of the most popular books about the Guatemalan Civil War and was disappointed to find that they only had new copies of those books because they were in such high demand. However, I did leave with a bargain book: an incredibly written biography of Father Roy Bourgeois called ‘Disturbing the Peace’ (http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=861). More about Xela coming soon.
5. Mercado: I have always been addicted to fruits and vegetables. The problems with having that addiction at home in Michigan are numerous:
   

• they are more expensive than peanut butter and macaroni and cheese
• they are only available during certain seasons
• they are usually imported from chile and peru which just makes me feel guilty about all the carbon required to bring me my apple (especially when we have an overabundance of apples in the orchard for 2 months out of the year)
• since we have to drive a half hour to get to the grocery store we only buy them once a week and they’re usually bad by the time you go to eat them
• farmers markets are only offered on select days, they’re only available in the summer, and their cost is inhibitory
• BUT: In the Antigua Mercado, my addiction is always satisfied and I can feel great about my purchases. You simply can’t buy a pair of mangoes for less than $3 at home; here you can buy a bag of 5 for Q5 (about 60 cents). I was disappointed to find that many of the apples in the market still come from the USA and Chile but I always have the option of purchasing Guatemalteca and it’s even cheaper: 10-15 apples for Q10 ($1.20). I can buy a local broccoli head for Q2 (25 cents). While the mangoes are starting to go out of season, there is still plenty of pineapple to be had. And, I can go to the market 2-3 times per week because it is only a 15 minute walk and there are hundreds of vendors with fresh fruits and veggies every day. This is the epitome of a farmers market and it’s done really well. It’s always colorful and lively and there is always a fresh selection.
  

Bad

1. Machismo and creepy old men: They’re everywhere. At 8AM, they stand outside their stores, at 12AM watching everyone else dance while hanging on the bar because they’re too old to keep up with the young crowd. You can be wearing long pants and a sweatshirt and they’ll still make comments. “Hey baby.” “Hola Barbie.” “Ay mamita.” Honestly, we’ve heard it all.
2. The flyer hander-outers: They too are everywhere. They will come at you and shove paper in your face. They are like pests trying to sell trips to Pacaya or holistic itch relief. Seriously…one man has commented on the number of mosquito bites on my legs every time I’ve walked by; he also commented on Lauren’s sunburn and peeling. Some people are tempted to just take the paper and toss it aside so they can get rid of the nuisance which only increases the already elevated litter problem in the city. Which brings me to my next point…
3. Trash: It too is everywhere. Unavoidable. In fact, it’s so common that it’s an endless cycle of litter-ers. Just because it’s everywhere, everyone thinks it’s okay to just toss their trash aside when they don’t want it anymore. Recycling service is also terribly expensive so no one does it. While I have heard that they have a similar method to Peru…people will pick through the trash in search of recyclable materials that they can sell to recycling companies to make a profit. Only tin and paper and glass are of any value. Plastic is worth next to nothing and it seems to be the most common trash. This is why I think recycled art and plastic bottle walls are such a great idea.