Tribewanted: Vorovoro

One of the exciting things about the Andina Expedition is the chance to meet and see first hand the incredible people of this Andean region of Peru. However while the chance to meet these ‘gente andina’ we’ll be overwhelmed by their happy and welcoming nature we will also be expose to the realities that they face in just being alive in the hostile and tough conditions that is mountain living.

One of the things I often hear people long for in the West is the idea of cooking over an open fire (one of the things that consistently seems to appeal to the Tribe Members on Vorovoro i remember) and the sense of getting back to a simple existence. However for many of the mountain people in Peru the daily reality of looking for wood and then cooking off it is actually far more hazardous than we could imagine.

The reality for people living in the Upper Andes of Peru is grim: every day thousands are exposed to prolonged smoke inhalation, one of the leading causes of early death for residents of the region.

Most families use open flame fire pits inside their home to cook meals as well as heat their house. But with no chimney to ventilate, the carbon-filled smoke covers the walls with black soot while doing even more harm to the lungs of the families breathing in the toxic air.

Personally i have been in countless kitchens where the family will huddle very close together over a smoking fire in order to make the meal. While this conjures quite a charming image it couldn’t be any further from it.

The Peruvian government says the intake of smoke is equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day and many children are becoming seriously ill as a result of the smoke.

However, thankfully, this problem has reached a lot of awareness recently as the outside world has started to realise that these horrific conditions are just not acceptable.

Most recently there has been a large drive of Local Government, NGO’s and other groups to help bring a new type of stove and also kitchen design to the houses of those living up high. There are now many initiatives to bring this type of design and awareness to those living with these daily realities.

(This was taken from a particular project in Peru in 2006)

. ‘Key components of the kitchen’s design were a raised cooking platform, an enclosed channel with humps for the fire, multiple openings for pot location, an ash trap, and a compressed dirt chimney. The materials used were compressed dirt bricks for construction of the platform and the chimney, fired bricks for construction of the fire’s channel, a local clay mixture (used for roofing tiles) for the lining of the fire’s channel and to insulate the sheet metal, a mud and straw mixture used as a mortar to hold the compressed dirt bricks, sheet metal to cover the fire’s channel over which the pots would be laid, rebar for the ash trap and to support the weight of the pots over the fire’s channel, and finally cement to cover the stove to finish it.

The raised platform creates a more hygienic cooking environment by keeping food and preparation higher from the floor where more dirt and microbes are found, especially in households that raise small animals in their kitchens. It also decreases the risk of accidental burns by keeping the fire and hot surfaces away from the reach of children. The enclosed channel for the fire leads to a more efficient use of the heat which in turn leads to faster cooking times and less consumption of fire wood. The humps in the fire’s channel direct the heat of the flames toward the second and third pots to further increase efficiency. Families were given a choice of two or three pot kitchens either of which allowed them to cook more than one pot on a single flame. This allows for decreased cooking time, a more efficient use of the fire’s heat, and decreased consumption of fire wood. The ash trap allowed for the easy collection of ash for other uses, and provided better air flow for the fire, again increasing efficiency. Finally, the chimney allowed for the removal of smoke from the kitchen environment. The chimney was built for compressed dirt bricks in order to build a wider chimney for improved air flow and because though it was more work in the construction it would require much less maintenance and would last longer that the sheet metal chimneys seen in other designs. The longer life of the chimney was important to the families because they did not have the income to buy replacement sheet metal. The fire’s channel was built using bricks and the clay mixture because these materials are more resistant to the heat of the flames and so grant the kitchen a longer life. Also the brick and clay mixture absorb less heat from the fire which increases efficiency. ‘

If you’re interested in coming to the Andes with Tribewanted next summer then go to www.tribewanted.com/blog/andina for more details