Around noon, visitors in Nthenda Village near Dzalanyama Mountain gulp smoky fumes from three-stone fireplaces.
Throughout the rural locality under Traditional Authority Masumbankhunda, women and girls are seen cooking lunch for their families.
As flames leap to the boiling pots saddling on the sturdy stones, so do soot and smoke that tar the interiors of Lydia Banda’s grass-thatched kitchen.
Standing at the doorway, the mother of four gasps for fresh air, rubbing her bloodshot eyes and itchy nose.
“Cooking for my family is not easy,” she says. “I inhale smoky fumes from burning firewood that leave my eyes and nose itchy as if I smoke,” she laments.
Nearly all households in Malawi cook using firewood and charcoal, consuming the country’s fast-vanishing forests, including Dzalanyama Mountain—the sole source of potable water for Lilongwe City.
As thousands raid the mountain forest for firewood, charcoal and timber, a concern is growing that Malingunde dams that store water for the capital city could run dry within a decade.
A 45-minute drive from the city, Banda is worried about her health.
“The smoky fires slowly tars my lungs, causing breathing difficulties,” she says. “After cooking, I cough and sneeze profusely. My respiratory organs could be as blackish as the kitchen walls.”
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 2.1 billion people worldwide cook using wood, animal dung, crop waste and coal, which produce deadly fumes.
“Each year, 3.2 million people die prematurely from illnesses attributable to the household air pollution caused by the incomplete combustion of solid fuels and kerosene used for cooking,” WHO warns. “Particulate matter and other pollutants in household air pollution inflame the airways and lungs, impair immune response and reduce the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.”
Banda has waved goodbye to household air pollution which killed over 237 000 children under five in 2020.
Her homestead is among 50 households around the endangered Dzalanyama Forest Reserve that received solar-powered cookstoves from Save the Children in September this year.
Users say the new cookstove consumes less firewood and emits fewer fumes than open fires.
Save the Children Malawi innovations director Bright Chidzumeni says the K13 million donation complements nationwide efforts to save forests and lives amid climate change.
“Dzalanyama Forest has been abused for a long time and people keep cutting down trees for firewood and charcoal. These cookstoves use minimal amount of firewood,” he says.
Chidzumeni said more communities could get the solar-powered cookstoves if it proves successful around Dzalanyama Forest.
Assistant plantation manager Noel Chimombo underscored the urgent need for innovations that work to save Dzalanyama Forest Reserve before taps run dry in the capital city.
“The cookstoves will slow deforestation in Dzalanyama, but planting trees is the most reliable way to tackle climate change. If every household plants trees in their backyards, they won’t raid the protected forest anymore,” he argues.
The clean and energy-saving cooking appliance excites Banda.
She no longer hikes the mountains every week to fetch firewood.
“A bundle that couldn’t last a week now takes over two weeks,” says Banda. “I no longer worry about frequent long walks to the mountain or coughing and sneezing. I save time and energy to care for my family, crops and business.”
Source: The nation-James Chavula-staff writer-12 December 2024