Kenya: Women use savings on merry-go-round to access clean energy and mitigate climate change

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Kisii — For decades, women and girls in rural sub-Saharan Africa have faced the challenge of lack of access to clean energy, which impacts their health, economic status and climate. It is a cause of variation.

These women and girls travel miles to collect, cut firewood and buy kerosene to feed their families, while men and boys pursue their careers and businesses for economic empowerment. In cooking, we face discrimination.

Mary Moller of Emborogo village in Nyaribari Masaba constituency woke up at exactly 4:30 am to prepare breakfast for her three children. It took her about an hour to prepare porridge and snacks for the children, just as she left for school at 6am.

Moller is forced to prepare breakfast for her husband and do household chores before joining him on the farm, which is his main source of income.

“Around 11:30, I take a break and go home to prepare lunch before the kids come home and eat. By 12:45 lunch is ready,” Moraa said. increase.

Since the age of 12, Moller, 45, has prepared meals for his family using a 3-stone rice cooker and firewood. He spent several hours gathering firewood and had difficulty getting into the kitchen. She has been spending her extra time in her smoke since she was 12 years old cooking for her family.

The smoke from the burning wood irritated her eyes and chest, causing her to sneeze and cough, and the smoke gradually increased, especially when the wood was wet.

“During the evening hours, I would go to the kitchen around 5pm and start preparing dinner, cooking it for several hours, and when it got dark, I would light a kerosene lamp and finish cooking. I helped with their homework,” she added.

After cleaning up the meals, she could help the children to sleep and clean the utensils before going to bed. Living on polluted fuels out of the house has impacted health conditions due to financial difficulties in getting clean energy for cooking and lighting.

Turn savings groups into clean energy projects.

Moller and other women in the village had a merry-go-round savings project to purchase household items and groceries such as tools and bedding, cooking oil, sugar, rice and laundry soup.

“We chose to use our group to purchase cooking gas per member. With 20 members, we decided to purchase 2 cooking gas cylinders for 2 members per month. I did,” says Hildah Nyaboke, chairman of the group.

According to Nyaboke, after members expressed concerns about using the group to purchase 6-kilogram gas cylinders, members encouraged the implementation of the idea, requiring 10 or more to buy gas cylinders for each member of the group. It took months.

“Due to limited laws, we cannot add new members until five years have passed, after which we will make room for new members.

Members also came up with the idea of ​​getting solar panels to help light the house instead of using kerosene for evening household chores.

Nyaboke said members agreed to increase their donation from Sh500 to Sh700 so that solar panels could be purchased and installed.

“We have purchased and installed solar panels for our 6 members.We hope to have the solar panels sorted so that everyone can easily carry out their daily activities by the end of this year. ‘ she said.

Judi Nyaquelario, one of the solar panel beneficiaries, says she no longer has to rush home from the store before dark to cook for her family. her family.

“I spend 30 minutes in the kitchen at most, preparing and serving meals for my family. My children can extend their studies until 10pm because the power is on at night. says Nyakerario.

Nyaquelario now has a hair salon and barber shop outside the house. We also charge mobile phones here for a small fee, increasing revenue for the business as a whole. It gives them milk.

“For some of us who received solar panels and gas cylinders for cooking, our lives have changed, we can take care of our families, and we can save a lot of time walking miles to get firewood.” Told. Nyakelario.

Additionally, 40% of the world’s population lack access to clean fuels for cooking and 10% lack access to electricity.

Clean energy innovation and digitization are key elements in the energy transition to renewable energy.

Raising awareness of the importance of green energy

Dorice Aburi, president of Kisii Women, says many of these women are already sensitive to the health effects of traditional energy sources such as wood, and that solar energy can be used for lighting, cooking and other forms of electrification. It claims to provide clean, reliable, and affordable electricity to power its products.

At these meetings, women officers who are currently implementing projects for the Donya Charity Mission to help vulnerable people in villages will educate these women on the importance of clean energy for the environment and healthy living. said.

This reduces the need for kerosene lamps, wood stoves, and other traditional energy sources that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

A female representative gave these women knowledge about a biogas plant that is produced by the anaerobic digestion of organic waste such as manure and food scraps. It can reduce our dependence on wood fuels and charcoal, which contribute to deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions.

“Renewable energy will improve the health of these women and their families by reducing their exposure to indoor air pollution from traditional stoves, such as the traditional method of three stone ovens,” said Dorice Aburi. says.

She pointed out that studying longer in well-lit homes helps young girls get an education like boys, which helps them improve their academic performance.

County government provides eco-friendly stoves for clean energy.

Kisii County Water, Energy, Natural Resources and Climate Change Minister Ronald Nyakweba said the county council had already passed the climate change bill.climate change

Additionally, Nyankweba says the county has signed a memorandum of understanding with an NGO to provide carbon-free, echo-friendly stoves to 200 households in the county. An echo friendly stove will cost you Ksh.200 from the market price of Ksh.2000.

“Members of our staff have already been trained and will be providing these stoves to vulnerable people in our villages, which will reduce carbon emissions by up to 50% as a way to mitigate climate change,” he said. the minister said.

The commission will help unlock funds raised from the state coffers.The county is expected to get 32 ​​million shillings to help implement climate change activities.

The county is in talks with donors about providing them with solar panels that will be used to power all medical facilities to help mitigate climate change.

A Department of Energy study of Kenya’s home cooking sector survey shows that there are efforts to transform the cooking sector, which is heavily dependent on clean cooking solutions from traditional cooking.

According to the study, 80% of an estimated 6.2 million households use only one cooking option, using only charcoal or wood.

Kenya’s National Development Contribution (NDC) in renewable energy.

President Willian Ruto reiterated Kenya’s commitment to transition to 100% green energy by 2030 to mitigate climate change.

“It is not too late to respond and tackle this climate change threat. To help those in need and to end our dependence on fossil fuels, we must keep global warming levels below 1.5 degrees Celsius. I urge everyone to act urgently to help,” said President Root.

He advocated for African countries to take action against climate change with the immense potential of renewable energy by reducing the cost of renewable energy technologies and making them the most viable energy source. I called.

The President said Kenya is in transition to clean energy that supports jobs, the local economy and sustainable industrialization.

The Kenyan government has already announced plans to transition the country to 100% green energy by 2030, using solar, wind, hydrogen power and bioenergy to reduce the country’s carbon print.

Currently, 73% of Kenyans are connected to electricity, the main source of which is geothermal power, providing low-emission energy for a future green recovery.

The government has set a number of projects to boost its goal of a green energy nation by developing Africa’s largest single wind farm at Lake Turkana.

The government is also investing in the Orcaloia geothermal power plant in Naivasha, Nakuru.

Kenya, with 90% renewable energy, is on track to achieve a full transition and has joined forces with other countries to achieve its goal of improving lives by providing clean energy to its citizens I am getting help to do it.