A Kiwi innovation is helping improve the lives of displaced families caught up in the ongoing conflict in Syria.
A Dunedin manufacturer is making and sending out flat pack cooking stoves, which are having life changing effects on those in dire need.
In Syrian displacement camps, meeting even the most basic of daily needs is a challenge.
Almost two million people are living in conditions where they are stripped of basic human rights, including safe drinking water, shelter, clothing and food.
Mike Seawright of Relief Aid NZ says the needs are “massive,” with other concerns such as the lack of clean cooking equipment.
“Many people are using open fires, they’re bad for their health, they’re super inefficient and are consuming large amounts of fuel,” Seawright says.
That's where Dunedin fireplace company, Escea stepped in. For the past five years it's been working with Relief Aid to develop a kit set stove.
“We design some of the worlds most advanced, highly efficient, good looking fireplaces for New Zealand and Australian homes. What we decided was why not put those same design skills to work just to help,” says chief executive of Escea, Nigel Bamford.
After 300 prototypes and thousands of design hours, they donated the first 400 stoves earlier this year as a test run.
“We spoke to families after we've given them the cooking stoves and the response was overwhelming. They were spending less time cooking, less fuel, less time foraging for fuel, and therefore this was having a massive improvement in their lives,” Seawright says.
The machine Escea uses can produce one stove every eight minutes, it cuts 10 different parts into a steel sheet which is then flat-packed and shipped overseas and once it arrives at its destination, locals get the opportunity to put them together.
“As part of Escea's contribution to this project we're paying their time to put these stoves together,” Bamford says.
“They’ve got no other work opportunities so not only is it getting a stove to a family, it’s getting an income to people that are helping build them.”
More information about Fire For Life, and how to get involved, can be found here
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