The community service portion of the Semester gives students a glimpse of the links between health issues and daily living. The following photos summarize some of the work done at two different homes. In one case, students' work included providing drainage from sinks, so potential mosquito-breeding pools of water are no longer collecting outside; wiring new lights into the kitchen to enable the cooks to have a light source beyond the flames of the cooking fire; and installing a model rocket stove (a wood-fired stove with low CO and particulate emissions) in the kitchen for a test drive before the family committed to a total overhaul of the current cook top: a wood fire-heated plancha. The second home received a new, permanent double-burner rocket stove made from scratch with local materials by our students and Rancho Mastatal staff.
We installed pipes to divert drain water from bathroom and kitchen sinks away from the back of the house where it collected. The external wall of the kitchen is shown here.
To create a cleaner cooking environment, we pulled this old sink out of the kitchen in one home and replaced it with a similarly-designed, albeit newer, one with a drain pipe.
To make a rocket stove, our students mixed cow manure, straw, clay, rice hulls and lime to form a soft, clay-like building material easily sculpted around the j-shaped fire chamber and vent stack.
Rocket stoves are unique designs which reduce particulate emissions in smoke that can cause emphysema and chronic respiratory problems in family members spending a lot of time cooking indoors over wood fires. They also reduce the need for fuel: this pot of beans boiled in less than 15 minutes with a small handful of twigs! The family invited several friends in to see the stove in action while we were putting the finishing touches on the electrical wiring and tending the fire periodically. This stove was built over a two day period as a test model.
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