BY STEVE EPHRAEM
SOME kids are playing outside a house at a rural home. They seem not to be concerned about anything other than their child play. In no time, their father calls them indoors for feeding. The young souls rush to a neatly built kitchen and start to enjoy themselves.
This is none other than Mr Dube David Teerai Hlanganai’s home at Mapungwana Ward 14 in Chipinge East. As we enter the home, he smiles at us and gives our crew a warm welcome and offers us some seats. He reveals to us that his wife isn’t around since she is being employed by a construction company that is rehabilitating a road to Kopera.
Asked how he is managing cooking for the kids, Mr Dube smiles again and invites us into their kitchen. He shows us a smartly built stove.
“This is my magic. It is called a Jeka Stove which was availed to us by a development partner named Jekesa Pfungwa-Vulingqondo.
“The stove enables me to cook while standing and is very user friendly. It has three plates which remain hot for a long time. The main advantage of this stove is that it uses less fuel wood as compared to our traditional stoves and open fires. The amount of wood which I used to spend previously each week can now take me for almost two weeks,” he said.
Mr Dube doesn’t regret owning the Jeka Stove.
“My wife joined Jekesa Pfungwa-Vulingqondo that is how she qualified to have a Jeka Stove built at our home. I don’t regret owning this move because the stove is not labour intensive and very clean,” he added.
Contacted for a comment, Programmes Officer for Jekesa Pfungwa-Vulingqondo, Grace Kuvengurwa, indicated that their program has benefitted 200 women.
“We availed the Jeka Stove project with support from United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environmental Fund. The project has eased life for 200 direct beneficiaries in Goromonzi and Chipinge districts.
“The stove has proven beyond doubt that the use of clean energy can mitigate Climate Change. Reports from various communities indicate that Jeka Stove is gender friendly since men are enjoying using the product. We have also availed macadamia nuts trees for our members in Chipinge to complement the stove with establishment of woodlots, thus lessening the destruction of forests.
“As the stove uses fewer resources, it helps to improve people’s livelihoods since women can now save time and money which they used to spent for sourcing bulk fuel wood. The women are now utilising the time for other income generation projects,” said Kuvengurwa.