Vulnerable get biomass cookers

A TRUST in Livingstone has given out 30 biomass fuel cookers to vulnerable and needy persons under the auspices of the St Augustine and St Monica of the Anglican Church.

George and Rose Sikumba Trust Foundation (GRSTF) gave out 30 cook-stove which do not use charcoal.

The move was a way of empowering the needy in society and was also a move to discourage them from the depending on the usage of charcoal.

GRSTF Trustee, Rodney Sikumba, said that the 30 Greenway Jumbo Stoves were part of the planned 500 stoves to be given to needy within Livingstone.

Mr Sikumba said that the initial objective of the Foundation was to aid the less privileged and also create a legacy for his family.

He was speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation shortly after handing over the facilities at St Augustine Parish in Maramba at the weekend.

“Now, what we came to do to this community is to aid them with cookstove. These stoves are very efficient, easy to use and do not need charcoal.

“We want to see a situation where people will no longer rely on charcoal. We do realize that climate change is real and we are playing our part as a Foundation to see how best we can curb incensed cutting of trees for charcoal,” Mr Sikumba said.

Mr Sikumba said, ordinarily in Zambia today, each household has about five to six family members which entails that from the 30 Greenway Jumbo Stoves, it will benefit about 180 individuals who will benefit almost immediately.

“The stoves will be given to the widows, orphans and the aged to ensure when they want to cook, they don’t actually need to dip in their pockets to buy charcoal but just walk around the yard and picktwigs and be able to cook,” he said.

And Father Muyunda Simangolwa thanked the Foundation for the gesture adding that all organizations that felt the need to assist must not hesitate to do so.

Fr Simangolwa said that people were in dire need of assistance especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Greenway Jumbo Stove is a single- burner, high efficiency cook-stove that works on all solid biomass fuels such as wood, dry dung, crop waste, coconut waste and bamboo.

The stove does not require any fuel processing.