Ecological, ergonomic optimisation for cooking in Africa

Abstract

Rainbow4Kids is a primary school settled in Ukunda, Kenia. Twice a day, the school provides the children with a warm meal, which is cooked on a wood burning furnace. Big cooking pots are used, which are very heavy and difficult to handle. During the cooking process, the kitchen becomes filled with smoke and the temperature rises quite high. Furthermore, the burning process is inefficient and causes high wood consumption, which makes cooking very expensive. The goal of this master project was to design and build a new efficient, sustainable and ergonomic furnace. The optimization process of the furnace can be divided into two parts. The first part - the literature study and the first design of the furnace - was performed in Belgium. Based on this literature study the first design for the new furnace was made. The second part - which comprised research for locally available materials, adapting the design, building the furnace, introducing an adapted way of cooking and the live tests - was conducted in Kenia. During the last weeks of the project, the new furnace was tested and put into use. The amount of wood is decreased by 38%, which entails a cost saving of around 570 euro a year. Other gains are that the ergonomics increased due to a crane to lift the kettle from the furnace, the temperature in the kitchen is lowered and the smoke no longer enters the kitchen. Communication and working with local people made that the project was also a social and intercultural challenge.