"You must be the tallest woman in the universe"

Well, contrary to the popular belief held among many villagers, I am not the tallest woman in the universe. In fact, the tallest woman ever was reported to have been eight foot four inches, while I am a mere six foot 1 inch. But, this is what everyone (so I am told, I have not learned the Khmer sentence "you are the tallest woman in the world" but am on lesson three with my tutor!) has been saying about me, wherever I go.

Ratanak showing how to use the stove

Although this week at Trailblazer I have mostly been working on filtering sand for the water filters or picking salad / weeding (and dealing with my uncooperative stomach -_____-), on Tuesday I (along with others) delivered 82 new cooking stoves to eight different villages (or rather, we went to one village where villagers from eight different villages gathered). The cooking stoves are meant to simulate what Cambodians normally use to cook, but instead of fill the enclosed cooking space with smoke, these new cook stoves make the indoor air quality (or rather, slightly-enclosed-space-air-quality) much better (and contrary to popular belief, indoor air quality is often worse than outdoor air quality). The stoves are also meant to reduce time spent cooking, allowing the villagers to pursue other projects and improve overall quality of life.

Getting the surveys organized

We arrived at a village Town Hall at about 9:30am, and the families from the eight villages selected to receive the stove also met us there. In order to be selected to receive the stove, each family had to fill out a baseline survey, asking questions such as "How long does it take for you to cook dinner?" or "How many people do you cook for?" The surveys will avoid yes/no questions unless it is about something directly observable (ex: "is there soap in your bathroom area?") and not opinion ("do you think you cook for a long time?"). After the families who want the stoves fill out the survey, the village chief (of the eight villages, there was one female village chief which is quite rare--they are almost always male) decides who gets the stove. Trailblazer picks the villages, the village chief picks the villagers. Trailblazer works within the already existing systems as not to impose onto the villages; however, this can also create problems if the village chiefs are corrupt (as is often sometimes the case).

Village chief collecting money and recording it

The Cambodian president of Trailblazer, Ratanak, showed the villagers how to use the stove briefly, and the stove itself came with picture instructions. Scott, one of the American founders of Trailblazer explained how it had taken two years to get the stoves shipped from the US with customs and everything. Some villagers had already paid the $1.50/6,000Riel fee for the stoves, while with others we saw the transaction take place with the village chief taking and recording the money for bookkeeping. The money goes to a central village fund / savings account, as I described a bit in my first post.

Strapping the stoves to bicycles and motos

Getting the stoves turned into a celebration of sorts. With each stove handed out, we got a photo of giving it to the villager. In my honest opinion, this was excessive. I understand how monumental this stove was for the people, and played along with the photos, but did so through a rather fake smile (I was a cheerleader in high school). As someone who really is not a fan of getting photos of myself when I literally appear like a ball of sweat, my hair is sticking straight up, and dirt is stuck to my sunscreen-slathered face, I was not amused.  One of them men receiving the stove remarked about its high quality, literally saying "Looks like quality" and was very excited and proud to have the stove--it was truly moving. Men, women, and children strapped the stove to their motorbikes or bicycles to go home, excited to use them.