During my time at Sunseed I was amazed to see how solar box cookers work. Situated on the roof, they are used daily to heat water and cook rice / pasta as well as sauces. Constructed from wood, glass, and metal, they are quite cheap to make and require no other fuel than the sun, thus they clearly have great potential to help people in Africa.

Solar cooker at Sunseed

So when I visited my friends in The Gambia, where I was a volunteer teacher some years ago, I discussed the idea with a number of people in the village, showing them the leaflet I picked up at Sunseed. After five weeks I found someone both willing and able to gather the materials and make a box with me: Mr. Modou Bah. By this time I had just one week left in The Gambia, during which I walked every day to the next village, Galoya, where Modou is the Al Callo ( Mayor ). We created a wooden frame, then constructed the box with corrugated metal inside, a glass lid, and black painted exterior. Many people dropped by during this time, and it became quite a talking point in the village. After 5 days we had completed our prototype, and I had to travel on to meet my friends in Senegal. Over the next few weeks, Modou phoned occasionally to let me know how it was going. It turned out that the box was too big, and the corrugated metal wasn’t the most efficient reflective surface, so the cooker was good for heating water but not really for cooking. However, since then Modou has developed a smaller model with thin, flat metal lining which works much better. I wonder if he could also use recycled aluminium cans for this purpose? He is very happy with the results and has plans to spread the word. He has promised to teach my friends in Senegal how to make them, and has called a meeting of all the Al Callos in his district. They want to plan a way to get more solar box cookers made and distributed, and find ways to encourage popular uptake of the solar cooker in The Gambia. Concern about deforestation for fuel has become widespread and reached governmental level so hopefully there will be much support for this work.

                                                                                        Rachel volunteering at Sunseed

If anyone knows of any funding opportunities to support this I would be really happy to hear from them. Meantime, I am glad to report that the project continues, and is one where the people are helping each other and developing it independently. Thanks, Sunseed. Rachel Gardner – Volunteer at Sunseed October 2011During my time at Sunseed I was amazed to see how solar box cookers work. Situated on the roof, they are used daily to heat water and cook rice / pasta as well as sauces. Constructed from wood, glass, and metal, they are quite cheap to make and require no other fuel than the sun, thus they clearly have great potential to help people in Africa.

Solar cooker at Sunseed

So when I visited my friends in The Gambia, where I was a volunteer teacher some years ago, I discussed the idea with a number of people in the village, showing them the leaflet I picked up at Sunseed. After five weeks I found someone both willing and able to gather the materials and make a box with me: Mr. Modou Bah. By this time I had just one week left in The Gambia, during which I walked every day to the next village, Galoya, where Modou is the Al Callo ( Mayor ). We created a wooden frame, then constructed the box with corrugated metal inside, a glass lid, and black painted exterior. Many people dropped by during this time, and it became quite a talking point in the village. After 5 days we had completed our prototype, and I had to travel on to meet my friends in Senegal. Over the next few weeks, Modou phoned occasionally to let me know how it was going. It turned out that the box was too big, and the corrugated metal wasn’t the most efficient reflective surface, so the cooker was good for heating water but not really for cooking. However, since then Modou has developed a smaller model with thin, flat metal lining which works much better. I wonder if he could also use recycled aluminium cans for this purpose? He is very happy with the results and has plans to spread the word. He has promised to teach my friends in Senegal how to make them, and has called a meeting of all the Al Callos in his district. They want to plan a way to get more solar box cookers made and distributed, and find ways to encourage popular uptake of the solar cooker in The Gambia. Concern about deforestation for fuel has become widespread and reached governmental level so hopefully there will be much support for this work.

                                                                                       Rachel volunteering at Sunseed

If anyone knows of any funding opportunities to support this I would be really happy to hear from them. Meantime, I am glad to report that the project continues, and is one where the people are helping each other and developing it independently. Thanks, Sunseed. Rachel Gardner – Volunteer at Sunseed October 2011