Elburn Company to Help Haiti with Solar Ovens

On 28th January, Elburn Company shipped two Villager Sun Ovens, 160 Global Sun Ovens, 200 cardboard solar cookers and 2,000 water pasteurization indicators to the country.

Paul Munsen, president of Sun Ovens International, is travelling there Sunday to train people how to use Sun Ovens, which operate on solar power. As displaced Haitians form tent cities, Sun Ovens can help cook food and purify water for families and large crowds.

On Jan. 28 it shipped two Villager Sun Ovens, 160 Global Sun Ovens, 200 cardboard solar cookers and 2,000 water pasteurization indicators to the country.

It is also donating more than 297 of the Global model ovens that were made in Haiti and survived the hurricane intact. The Global Sun Ovens are capable of cooking enough food to feed eight people a day. The Villager can cook 1,200 meals a day.

Munsen has worked with Haitians for 11 years, including establishing the assembly plant in northern Haiti. (New parts have also been shipped to Haiti, so production can resume.)

The solar ovens can bake, roast, boil and steam food, and purify water, reaching a temperature of about 360 degrees. The biggest obstacle to getting people to cook with them is overcoming cultural habits, Munsen said.

In Port-au-Prince, a family might spend half of its income on charcoal for cooking, Munsen said, oftentimes spending more money on fuel than it spends on food. The charcoal is made from trees in the now mostly denuded Haitian forest. Environmental experts say Haiti went from being 60 percent forested in 1923 to 2 percent now, leading to problems with soil erosion and mudslides.

Cooking over charcoal also leads to lung and eye problems for the cook, who inhales smoke while standing over the fire for long periods.

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