A visit to a neighbour’s house in Malawi ended in a life-altering introduction to electric cooking.
Traditional cooking was not only damaging the health of Jennifer Daimon’s family; it was placing an unbearable strain on the family budget.
“Charcoal is expensive and prices of commodities keep rising," she says. "Cooking with charcoal had become unaffordable.”
There was also a physical cost, with demands on her time leaving Jennifer exhausted. "When I was using charcoal and firewood, I had to wake up as early as 4am to heat water for bathing and to prepare the children for school," she explains. “Life was very hard.”
When she saw an eCook induction stove in her neighbour’s kitchen, in Area 21 of Malawi’s Lilongwe district, she knew she had found a life-altering solution. Relief was immediate.
"Now, with the stove, I can wake up around 6am, cook quickly and still get the children to school on time,” she explains. "Instead of waking up at 4am, I now use that time to make mandasi (doughnuts) and do other productive things.”
The switch to electric cooking has slashed the household energy bills. “When I was using charcoal, which is very expensive, I spent a lot of money, almost 70,000 Malawian Kwacha per month. Now I spend about 30,000 Malawian Kwacha on electricity units per month, which covers cooking, the refrigerator and everything else that needs power.” IoT technology means every second of cooking time is measured and turned into carbon credits, with cash returned to the family via ATEC’s Cook to Earn program.
Jennifer is equally grateful for the benefits beyond cost and productivity savings. A primary motivator was the induction technology. "Even if a child touches the cooking plate, they cannot get burned, whereas with charcoal, a child can easily get burnt," she observes.
She also values the health and environmental improvements clean cooking brings. "The smoke from charcoal is dangerous when inhaled, and to produce charcoal, many people have to cut down lots of trees, destroying nature and contributing to reduced rainfall," she notes.
Cooking in Jennifer’s home is now a task rather than a chore. "This stove has truly made life easier,” she says.
