First Day in Peru

Hello everyone! I am writing to you from our hostel! The family that owns the hostel is so nice and we've enjoyed getting to know them through little tid-bits...since they don't really speak English. We arrived in Lima around 5ish and then headed to our hostel and fell asleep quickly. This morning we woke up around 9 and got things together, booked our bus tickets with the help of our hostel madre, and headed out to see the town. We had some errands to run, ate some chifa cuisine (Peruvian-Chinese) and hit up the grocery for some water and snacks. Somehow we managed to get our phone all set up (our español is rough), which is such a blessing! Tonight we plan to go to bed early after spending some time with our wonderful hostel family, and then we head to Huancayo at 7:45 AM! We thank you all so much for your prayers! We'll leave you with some facts about Esperanza Peru, the organization we'll be working with to help build a family a stove. We most likely won't be able to post while we're in Huancayo, so until then, adios!

More info about Esperanza Peru and the Clean Stove Project

(www.esperanzaperu.org)

In many of the high-altitude communities in Iscos village, food is prepared over an open fire in the home. Ventilation usually consists of a hole in the roof for the smoke to escape. This however, is not a very efficient way to avoid smoke filled living conditions. The result is a very unhealthy atmosphere for people to be cooking and living in because improper ventilation leads to a host of respiratory illnesses as well as eye maladies. In addition, much of the wood used to fuel the fire is from native trees which are rapidly decreasing in number. The cleaner burning stove project is the implementation of a stove that provides proper ventilation and burns wood more efficiently.

In order to address the issue of deforestation for fuel and health issues related to inadequate ventilation, Esperanza Peru started the Clean Burning Stove Project. By installing fuel-efficient wood stoves with proper ventilation, Esperanza Peru staff and volunteers help reduce the amount of wood consumed by community members while simultaneously reducing illnesses related to smoke inhalation. An additional option is to work with local school children on Environmental Education fieldtrip, and the benefits are astounding:

• 20%-60% reduction of firewood and other fuel consumption
• Reduction in indoor smoke inhalation
• 12% increase in lung capacity after three months
• Higher fuel efficiency provides faster cooking times
• Cost-effective and efficient method of cooking helps families to work against the cycle of poverty (savings of approximately 220 nuevos soles per year)