Yesterday our very own house professor-dean Garrick Blalock spoke to us about his work in East Africa regarding the clean cook stove. He spoke to us about  the projects he has implemented to better the lives of the poor in this region be demonstrating various personal pictures that he took as records of the lifestyle and location these people were living in. It was interesting to see how communicating was an issue in terms of explaining to the inhabitants of the area that their way of cooking was causing them more harm in the long run. Once they seemed to get an idea of trying to trying out another person’s invention, the next step was to teach them how to assemble the stove and use it properly. It so happens that after various attempts, and various stoves were given to families for trial purposes, about half of the families had done away with their stoves, leaving them no where to be found.

The irony, or disappointment,  is that the three stone stoves that these families originally used were releasing carbon dioxide in to the air. When cooking is done inside the home, with children playing around the house all day, and this smoke leaving a black tar like residue on the walls were the smoke hits, it makes sense that it would negatively impact their bodies. About 8 million people die each year due to respiratory issues; that is double the amount the die due to malaria. So this invention was supposed to improve the lives of these people who are considered destitute, but it appears that was not the case.

Perhaps the lack of knowledge that these people have in regards to understanding the affects that the toxic air has on them is the reason why they do not attempt to alter their way of life. It could also be that their pride in maintaining their way of life is coming between making a better overall decision. Perhaps a more affective approach would be to personalize the issue by focusing on the relationship between mother and child, or mother and family, and hope the best thing for them would be to implement this new technology. Overall, it was a fabulous lecture, and more importantly it sparked all of the Rose Scholars interests – I would like to believe – in trying to better understand why this is happening.