AUTHOR: Nancy TITLE: Letter from Gustavo DATE: 1/21/2010 07:11:00 AM ----- BODY:
Gustavo Peña, the first Ecocina factory owner, was asked by Rotary International publicity department to answer a few questions about his relationship with StoveTeam International and if it had changed his life. I think you'll be fascinated by his answers. I know I was.

-----(here is my translation of his letter in Spanish-----


1) What did you do for work before engaging in the production of Ecocina stoves?

When I finished high school, I was hunted by the death squads. At that time I looked to others to understand our rights as students, and as I was born in a rural community, I became involved in a movement which was then called Catholic Action. Our job was to get aid to the needy, but at that time any person involved in humanitarian aid was accused of being a communist. Because my mother was afraid of my being killed like many of my friends and teachers, she gave me money to illegally travel to Los Angeles, California. I found work at Sewing Machine Empire on Main and 1st. Streets. in downtown Los Angeles, and there I assembled industrial sewing machines for about a year and a half. Then I worked for six months as a messenger at a printing press, and delivered classified documents to a company called Bechtel Corporation, which at that time was designing the space shuttle.

In May 2004 I was deported back to El Salvador, and on my return many of my friends were missing because of the death squads, and I was still in danger. I was home only 3 months and then went to Montreal, Canada where I spent a year working in a plastic products factory that made spoons, knives, forks and computer cases. Montreal is very cold, so I decided to travel to Vancouver where I worked in agriculture driving a tractor to prepare the land in a place called Richmond. Then I found a new job in Vancouver for a company that repaired phones for BCtel. The company name was Stuart Plastics, and its owner is Sanders who is called Max, and I have not heard anything from them since. I've only had contact with a friend named Salvador Pacheco, who still lives near Vancouver (unsalvita@hotmail.com).

In 1980 I returned to El Salvador and was married in 1981. I have three children, the eldest is a dentist, the second lives in North Carolina and the third wants to go to college in the United States to study architecture.

2) How is that you met Larry Winiarski and began your association with Stove Team International? When did you open the factory?

My first job upon returning from Canada was selling motorcycles in 1982. I then worked as a supervisor of the company DIANA, a Salvadoran company that sells packaged foods (junk food, Nachos, potatoes, etc.). One day I met a gringo who did not speak very good Spanish, and I approached him to help as I always do, and he offered me a job as a translator. He was exporting exotic animals from Central America to Miami. After three years his license was suspended, and I lost my job. I then worked making small plaques for the army. I took this opportunity so I wouldn’t have problems with the army, and through them I got a visa to the United States.

After that work I traveled to Houston, Texas to buy used vehicles. I brought them to El Salvador and sold them for a normal profit that helped me maintain my home. I left this job when a Colombian offered me a job to bring in money hidden in cars to Nicaragua. This money was from drug trafficking, and I began to feel some pressure and decided not to work in Houston anymore. My children were young and these people would not forgive you. I'd rather be free and employed rather than a person with money who works illegally.

It was then, in 1992, that I decided to start a pizza business.

In 2000 I met Sean Ahearn through a childhood friend, Octavio Duran. Octavio was always very close to Archbishop Romero up until the day the Archbishop was murdered in church on a Sunday in 1980. Luis Alonzo is my cousin and he and my cousin Reinaldo have been my friends since childhood, and they introduced me to this gringo, Sean Ahearn. Sean and Octavio founded a non-profit organization, Project Light House, to bring aid to the neediest communities in El Salvador. Sean offered me a job working with their projects in El Salvador, and the main office was built in a community clinic in Santa Cruz near my town. They began sending used medical equipment to various clinics in El Salvador, the clinic is now run by AGAPE which was founded by Father Flavian Muchi a Franciscan priest who had come from Boston and who had been working here for many years. He began working with Project Light House and met Avi Davis who became friends with Sean at a gym in the YMCA. Avi had come to El Salvador to start some solar energy projects. In 2006, Avi decided to launch a project in Suchitoto, a picturesque village north of San Salvador, and one of the towns hardest hit by the war. He was looking for someone to teach us how to build an efficient stove, and that's how we contacted NETWORKS, an organization in San Salvador, who collaborated on an initial project to build 30 stoves.

After follow-up studies, some families complained that the difference between this new stove and the traditional open fire wasn’t much. so, Avi returned to the United States and sought professional help to improve the stoves that were already built in Suchitoto, and to continue to make an improved model. Avi knew Larry Winiarski and convinced him to come to El Salvador and with his knowledge help us to continue to help more families who use wood as cooking fuel.

Larry arrived in El Salvador in early 2008, and once we met with Larry, we realized we could work together. In a conversation a few days before Larry returned to the United States, he began talking about a lady who might be interested in starting a new project, and he put it this way, “Gustavo there is a lady in Oregon who has some experience with stoves in Guatemala, and at this time I know you don’t know much about stoves, but I can tell that you have a good attitude and like to work. Listen, I do not promise anything but we'll see what happens ...”

Days passed and Larry wrote to me once in a while and told me he had already started talking to Nancy but she was not excited.

In the middle of that year, Larry came to Nicaragua for a conference on the environment and invited me and told me that he had spoken to Stuart Conway of Trees-Water-People and asked him to give me a scholarship to attend this conference. I remember that we traveled in my old Jeep Cherokee, and when we were 4 hours from Managua, right before the city of Chinandega, the radiator broke. We reached Managua the next day at about four o'clock, and then I had the pleasure of meeting Stuart, to whom I will be forever grateful for the opportunity of engaging in the improved stoves program. It was at this conference that I also had the opportunity of meeting Brenda Dorowski who came on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

When we returned to El Salvador we had another mechanical problem in Choluteca, Honduras. We were there only 20 minutes with a broken transmission and had to leave. A young boy, Chris, from San Lorenzo, without a word listened to our instructions, and helped us with the problem. The next day we traveled by bus to El Salvador, and had to return to get my old Cherokee a week later.

My surprise came when Larry told me, “Gustavo, Nancy wants to help with a small pilot project, so I'll stay a few days at your home to see what we can do. Larry began to purchase materials and with the tools that he had brought from the United States, we made a short list of materials and started working on the development of the first Ecocina. Our workshop was only three and a half meters long and two meters wide. After three days Larry asked me to hire one more person to help us, and we hired Salvador, who has been with us since that day.

Larry, working slowly but surely, started to make some drawings and a few mathematical equations and built the Ecocina. Whenever we needed some money, there was Nancy as a guardian angel protecting us and giving us strength to continue with the design.

After almost three weeks the Ecocina first saw the light and has since evolved from a stove with a metal body to one of ferro-cement.

Nancy was so excited by the project in November 2007 she decided to come to El Salvador and meet me personally. From that time Nancy has been, with all of the members of Stove Team International, the pillar that has sustained the dream of continuing to help all of the families using fuel-wood for cooking.

I believe that neither Nancy nor I, nor some of the volunteers who first came to El Salvador, imagined that we would reach this far. And as Larry said one day, “This is not a coincidence, Gustavo. This is what God intended, and this is what happened between Larry, Nancy and me.

We stopped producing the metal stove because the value of metal was not stable, and that's how Don Steely and I began designing the mold for Ecocina that we are currently producing.

Nancy and a group of volunteers gave me the biggest boost in February 2008 and helped build a roof, a wall of more than 25 meters long and 3 meters high, and on that occasion I had the honor of meeting people for whom I have great memories and give thanks.

To achieve the model currently manufactured and distributed in Central America I had the direct collaboration of Don. Don worked for months looking for the best way to produce the Ecocina on a larger scale, and after several months of trial and error, I managed something even Don thought could not be achieved. With the help and ideas from different sources, and especially from Don, we managed to design a uniform mold with which we can make a very strong single-piece stove. I really thank Don for his drive, for without it there it would not be possible to have much of what we have today.

3) What is your job in the Ecocina stove factory?

In the factory I have to work as an orchestra conductor. I direct the production in collaboration with Salvador and Nery, my right arm, and they manage the production.
On the administrative side, my wife, Rosa Elvira, and my son Gustavito's girlfriend, Luisa, help me.

On the promotional and public relations side I establish contacts with organizations, communities and even government people, although the latter is more difficult as they possibly still are not aware of climate change, and although the stove is not the only solution, it improves health greatly and reduces deforestation.

I also like to explore the ideas and knowledge that I gained with Larry and Don, and at this time I have my own designs, a stove which is very useful in schools, and I have a two-burner, a small laptop stove for people who like outdoor life, and finally, with the help of Ken Goyer, a friend of Nancy and Larry’s, we are producing an oven. Ken has an NGO called AidAfrica, and Ken is doing great humanitarian work in Uganda. Hopefully someone could collaborate with him to continue this program.

4) Nancy mentioned to me that you help other stove factory owners with the production of the Ecocina (INCATEC people in Choluteca, Honduras). What kind of help do you give the new owners of factories Ecocina stoves?

Help given to the persons or institutions that want to start producing Ecocina stoves is one of my priorities. I feel morally committed to STI because of what they have done for me here in El Salvador, and for this reason I help others establish their businesses. The most important help we offer is to invite interested parties to visit our factory. We give them accommodation and train them for a week or however long they need to begin businesses without any difficulty.

"He traveled to Honduras to help the people at INCATEC?”

Not only have I traveled to Honduras, I have traveled to the second project of Nancy and STI that they started in Guatemala where Marco Tulio Guerra is in charge. He is a Guatemalan Nancy knew from a previous project. The problems Nancy had with the previous project would have discouraged Nancy from continuing to make stoves, but thank God Larry and I managed to make her continue, and today I think she is very happy to have continued. The factory of Marco Tulio is in a picturesque town near Antigua, Guatemala. Stove Team helped him build his factory in November last year and they have planned another visit in mid-February this year.

In Choluteca the story is the same. More than a year ago we contacted the Rotary Clubs of Managua, Leon and Choluteca.

As always, with her drive, Nancy’s work has already been completed with a Matching Grant for both Leon and Choluteca. These two groups have both come to receive training at the factory here in El Salvador.

After the training phase in the workshop I go to each of their countries and collaborate with them on both the production and demonstrations that I think are one of the components that I personally like the most. Interacting with people has been my hobby since my youth, and being with people and passing on what I know is what I like best.
How many factories have been established thanks to your help?

So far are three factories that are producing Ecocina stoves. They are in Guatemala; Choluteca, Honduras; and Leon, Nicaragua. Also, the people from PROLEÑA have had some training and they are ready for second phase of training whenever Rotary International approves money for a project. StoveTeam has been contacted by many countries such as Belize, Mexico and even countries in South America who are interested in the Ecocina.

5) How many people work at your factory?

Right now there are twelve. There are ten in production and two in administration.

6) Have you seen firsthand how the factories have improved the quality of life in El Salvador?

Creating jobs and become self-sustaining has been a priority since the start of STI. For example, I have a boy who cannot read or write. Will, as a boy, lost an eye. Guadeloupe can barely read, and if Nancy and STI had not brought help to set up this factory these people would be unemployed. Their lack of education does not allow them to get decent and dignified work, and here we are all very grateful because it has changed the lives of all of us, and for me personally it has helped me better prepare my eldest son Gustavo, who now can pay to attend a university in Guatemala which specializes in orthodontics. Before Nancy and StoveTeam International, I had no hope that my son would be a better professional. More than this, Nancy and her volunteer friends have helped my son and my family with medical equipment and so he can work on his own. You can see how life has changed us, and we are all eternally grateful.

7) Do you know anyone (friends, family, acquaintances) who has an Ecocina stove? If the answer is yes, how has it improved your life? Have you sent your factory Ecocina stoves outside El Salvador? What countries?

In one of the first reports from a television channel with national coverage there was the testimony of a mother with her son who has had asthma, and since she has used the Ecocina her son has improved every day. This lady is very grateful, and you can see this interview on YouTube or obtain it from Nancy.

In August of 2008 I was invited to Mexico by an NGO to participate in a conference on the environment. I brought an Ecocina in my luggage, and everyone was surprised. Since that date I have been trying to sell the Ecocina to the government of Mexico, and finally last year I got an order for 3,000. In January this year we sent the first 500, and we hope to send at least one container every month.

8) Is there anything else you'd like to tell about your Ecocina factory StoveTeam International?

The Ecocina might not be the best in the world, but what I can guarantee is the most important features are: It is portable (some families use them to work outside their homes selling local dishes. It has low fuel consumption, 40% compared with traditional cooking, and it eliminates smoke.

And regarding my relationship with STI, especially my friendship with Nancy, Gerry, Don, Susie and Gail, it has been scarred forever in my heart. I never tire of expressing my gratitude and not just for what they do for me, but for all who do factory work and the benefit they give to all those families who receive an Ecocina. I also thank Rotary International as they have been one of the strongest supporters to help us pull through,

With all of the effort we all do to promote and distribute the Ecocina in rural areas, the most important supporter for us has been the Peace Corps. I believe that 50% of the success of this program is due to the hard work these young people make, and I recall that early in 2008, a young volunteer came to us with the intention of distributing the Ecocina. His name is Martin Zanin, a young gringo with a big heart, who not only helped us to teach more volunteers but who was our official spokesperson within the structure of the Peace Corps. After Martin we began a close relationship with them, and now the Ecocina is a part of the training program of the Peace Corps here in El Salvador. I can say that we do to least about eight demonstrations per month and they are responsible for the delivery of over 80% of the Ecocina stoves to the neediest communities. The volunteers are so convinced of its effectiveness they are even asking for funds for the Ecocina from other organizations in the United States to help to finance projects in their communities. I would also like to give them our thanks.

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