Are You Serious?
Are You Serious? is an association started by Daniel Guzmán (Mexican) and Antoine Michel (French) with the aim of conveying a sense of responsibility through the act of travelling.
We were lucky to host these two on a side trip from their itinerary: Bogota – Quito – Cuzco – La Paz – Santiago – Buenos Aires – Montevideo – Asuncion – Sao Paulo.
They visited us at a demonstration of our stoves at a local market and at our office and workshop in Pacata Paja.
You can follow them on Facebook and soon see a video shot during their visit on their website.
Clean Technology
Bolivian people are suffering the effects of climate change and finding it harder to continue living in the same location without access to clean water. Due to the increased affects of higher annual temperatures and drought, water is harder to find and the demand to purify water is just as high. The cost to buy firewood or gas for fire is also expensive.
With an environment as diverse as Bolivia’s it is important to protect what it has. While protecting Bolivia’s environment, it is important to preserve the family orientated culture and sense of community that exists here. CECAM would like to introduce the solar oven; a new technology helps to protect the environment without disrupting Bolivian culture.
Diseases spread through contaminated water causes 80% of the world’s diseases (WHO, 2006). Additionally, Acute Respiratory Infections are the cause of death for millions of children every year. Polluted indoor air is created by cooking indoors using wood burning stoves in poorly ventilated houses (WHO, 2006). Cooking over open fire also requires many hours of monitoring the food that prevents women from engaging in other productive activities to contribute to their households.
The goal of National Development aims to distribute clean technology to disadvantaged sectors of society. This helps parents prevent their children from getting illnesses, especially ones that are water born and from smoke. Our solar stoves can help achieve this.
Technology using alternative forms of energy, specifically in the form of ecological stoves, alleviates serious problems in the areas of health, environment, and economy. The use of these stoves also aids in adding value to the lives of women and children in the world.
The use of ecological stoves in their two forms – solar oven and efficient wood stove – saves up to 80% of the fuels used daily. The main benefits of solar stoves include the ability to boil water to purify it, cook without creating smoke, and giving woman more time to engage in other activities. These three benefits are created because solar ovens can reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 30,000 – 40,000 to 2 every year.
Bolivia has a precious and long lasting connection with the environment. It is important to protect Bolivia’s environment and resources. Leading the world’s expedition to overcoming climate change, Bolivia and its people are a step in front and solar stoves are the kind of technology that is helping to achieve this. We need to recognize the degradation of our environment and the effects it is having on our people. Let’s take a step forward to making Bolivia a safer and healthier country.
Natural Disaster Appeal
Bolivia declared a state of emergency on Tuesday after flooding in four provinces led to the deaths of three people and landslides in the capital La Paz left thousands homeless.
The number of people affected by the massive landslides in La Paz has now risen to 6,000, according to the city’s Municipal Government.
The disaster has caused serious structural damage to over 1,700 homes in nine neighbourhoods of the city.
Water in rivers started to rise over the last month after powerful storms dumped inches of rain driving people from their homes and washing out roads.
In Cochabamba, schools and stadiums were sheltering hundreds of families whose homes were destroyed.
In lowland Santa Cruz department, Bolivia’s major grain growing region, floods damaged soy, corn and wheat crops. Rivers burst their banks and major roads were unusable.
The government says this year’s rainy season has been particularly severe as a result of La Nina, a climatic phenomenon caused by a shift in currents in the Pacific Ocean.
What We Are Doing to Help
CECAM has developed a stove that is 70%¹ more efficient than standard wood burning stoves. We are organising the transport and delivery of a number of these stoves to affected families in La Paz and in the affected areas of the Cochabamba region.
The more financial support we receive the more stoves we can donate to affected families. We appreciate any support you can extend to us.




















