Charcoal or a Box

Wow! The price of charcoal has risen to 45,000 shillings per bag. On the one hand it is good since Uganda burns more trees than it plants and has done so since 1994. The rise in prices may slow that wood deficit somewhat. But when you cook on charcoal as the only option you must find alternative ways to cook. Therein lies the story of the box.

Immediately after learning of the rise in charcoal prices I boldly said,"I gotta do something." So the decision was made to build a solar cooker. The "I" soon became Steven and I. Plans were found on the internet and we proceeded to buy the materials. But that is the problem. Solar cookers, or at least ours anyway, are made from wood. Wood and I have had a not so friendly relationship in the past. And Steven has pretty much the same relationship with our arborial friends.

Don't miss understand me. I love wood! Trees are great! I have always enjoyed cutting firewood. And toothpicks. Use em everyday. But once wood changes into the form of lumber it becomes my worst nightmare. Trees you cut and they regrow. Lumber you cut it and it will always be too short. It doesn't grow back. I know, I've waited.

So we started on our cooker. Actually it is supposed to be a solar cooker but it looks like a wooden box. In fact the only thing we'd been able to do with it is store the tools we are using to build it, in it. Steven says it looks more like a beehive. (who asked him anyway) Another problem is we have probably already used more wood to build our solar cooker/beehive/toolbox thing than we would have used in charcoal to cook for a couple of months. But progress is measured by small increments, not large leaps. And so the box continues to grow. It has now taken on a life of its own and even has its own room. My office is filled with wood and wood shavings and sawdust. And lots of slightly short pieces of wood. (strangely, if you cut the longest piece for your project too short it will for some reason never be long enough to be the shortest piece either) Time to get reinforcements. So the call went out for Rogers and Opio Jacob. It soon became obvious that they would not give insghts into the secret art of woodworking. But Jacob did volunteer to paint the beehive/box/cooker. So we let him join the project group.

Eventually we produced a trapazoidal box that roughly resembled the drawing I had produced two days earlier. I guess a ruler would have helped to keep it all in line.

Then we put a glass lid on it to let the sun's radiation in, this warms the bottom of the box which Jacob had painted black to absorb the energy. The walls of the box are lined with tin foil to reflect the sun's energy toward the pot that sits in the middle of the box. The reflected energy gets concentrated on the pot and the ingredients inside are slowly warmed and the food is cooked. The more the sun's energy is let in the faster the meal is cooked. I know becaused I read about it on line.

But it is not just one box. There is the inner box that holds the pot with food and there is also an outer box that protects the inner box by creating an air space that lets the inner box heat without losing its heat to the enviroment. It is really an impressive system when you consider the simplicity of it. But it does require another larger box. However with the experience Steven and I gain on the lesser box we quickly fabricated the outer box.

And guess what it works!

I cooked rice for lunch today. It only took three hours (that's okay I wanted to eat a late lunch) and it was the best solar cooked rice I ever ate. Steven and Bev agreed.

Not a bad week's work for two pastors who had to overcome serious cellulose issues. But God can help us do what we can't on our own. Now I just need some solar cooker cooking lessons. At least that doesn't involve wood.