The "M" Word

A hot stove on a cold day: part 4

Here is a picture of the school we helped from a distance.  Don't get snow blindness from all the white.  If you tried to walk accross that field you would be up to your knees in snow.

We hope to be able to visit this school again in a few weeks.

A hot stove on a cold day: part 3

Have you ever seen two metric tons of coal?  Neither had I.  I thought it would be a little bit more than that.  Either way, this is what they call "first grade" coal.  It comes in big chunks and is very hard.  The school was very thankful for this because it will burn hotter with less and burn longer than wood or a lower grade coal.

Just a quick update: the cold that has gripped Central Asia is staying with us even though this week has warmed up some (just above freezing).  Electricity is rationed in the city and natural gas can be sporadic.  The region is on the verge of a real humanitarian crisis.  Please pray for Central Asia, we need an early spring.

A hot stove on a cold day: part 2

Community development should be a mutual effort of the people being helped and the people donating the help.  Our little visit to a village in the Dust Valley resulted in a textbook case of community development. 

First of all there was a need.  The school was cold and they had inadequate heat for the children in school.  Most of the classrooms had ice on the inside of the windows.  The community lacked the resources to put stoves in the majority of classrooms and they were looking for some help.

That is where we came in.  We had a desire to help, but we had limited resources.  We listened to the school leaders and community representatives tell the story of the school.  That night we considered their requests and prayed for God to give us good solutions.  The next morning we went to the school and explained to them how much money we had.  We included the estimates we had gathered from the bazaar and then asked them how they would like to see the money spent.

There were a number of combinations of materials that could have been purchased.  We felt it best for the community to set the priority.  We left the meeting in the morning with a plan:  we would buy six stoves and two tons of coal.  We would not buy the exhaust pipes needed to install the stoves nor would pay anyone to install the stoves.  It is what they wanted and so that afternoon we were able to buy the stoves and deliver them (with the help of another NGO) late that afternoon.  The next morning the coal would be delivered. 

The next morning came and we went out to the village to pay for the coal that was to be delivered and say a few words and pray with the teachers.  Now here is where it gets good.  By 10:00 that morning each of the six stoves where fully installed (pipes and all) and working with a bit of the coal they had mixed with wood.  We were so blessed, not by our stoves, but by their stoves!  They took them, they installed them, and they used them.  That is true community development.

Please keep praying for this village, the winter is still hitting us very hard.

A hot stove on a cold day

This nifty gadget can heat up a room in a very short time.  The cylinder is like a charcoal chimney and is used to burn either wood or coal.  The hot air is channeled through the void under the table top and then out the vent on the other side.  The table top is used to heat water and cook on. 

We delivered six of these to a school in the Dust Valley.  Oh yeah, regardless of the image, these bad boys are heavy!

The Dust Valley

So far, over a meter and half of snow has fallen on the Dust Valley.  The people there survive by heating with wood and coal stoves in their homes.  Electricity is virtually non-existent these days.  Most people are prepared for harsh winters.  What makes this year disastrous was how early the cold came and how intense it has been.  This is the coldest winter in 25 years and everyone here feels it each day.