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Kakuyu – Masai warrior

One year, in Lusaka, I met with a group of French cyclists that were cycling over 5’000 km from Windhoek (Namibia) to Kilimanjaro (Tanzania). In itself, this is a pretty exciting adventure but they were also doing it for a purpose. With the French Not for Profit Organisation “Les Amis du Monde” (which would translate as “Friends of the World”), they were cycling to meet local population, talk about deforestation and present an alternative to the high wood consuming 3-stones fire that is commonly used.

The 3 stones fire is a simple open wood fire on the ground, with 3 stones set around the fire to delimit the area and sit the cooking pots. The cooker that they have developed and produced in West Africa is more economically (in wood) and ecologically friendly. The principle of heat generation is to concentrate the fire in a chimney that is insulated so that maximum heat is transferred to the pot and not spread (wasted) in the air around.

As the fire is concentrated and cooking done on fire rather than coals, there is a lower need for wood (hence reducing the task of wood gathering, and the impact of wood collection) and cooking goes faster.

“Les Amis du Monde” have produced a nice presentation/instruction document (translated version).

To find out more about this Cooker project, and their other projects, check out their website at http://www.raid-normandie-monde.com(French only).

I joined them in Zambia and I liked so much the project and the team that I followed them all the way to Mount Kilimanjaro (to read about the trip, check here). And this is how it all started with Kakuyu, whom I met during this trip….

Meeting Kakuyu (in blue at the front)

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