AUTHOR: Nancy TITLE: July 6, 2010 DATE: 7/06/2010 05:00:00 AM ----- BODY:

This trip has been amazing. Marco Tulio's factory in Guatemala is beautiful and up and running. Those who helped make the Jardin de las Mujeres will be so excited to see the lovely garden filled with tropical plants. After the recent hurricane, the two Rotary clubs arranged for a distribution of stoves to a group of people in extreme poverty who lost everything. Now Ana Luisa has started a small educational program for those women to teach them how to start small businesses using the new Ecocina stoves. She has had their children checked by a local physician who has complete documentation on their health. There is such extreme need that it's hard to know where to begin, but Ana Luisa has done it. We are hoping an elementary school in Eugene will agree to partner with Ana Luisa in her efforts to establish a small school for those children who do not even have shoes and thus cannot attend the local school. All she needs is a bit of money for pencils, paper, crayons and a white board. If you are interested in helping, please let us know. Upon leaving Guatemala, we traveled six hours to Copan Ruinas, Honduras to meet Anibal, the owner of the new factory. He is utterly amazing. The money from Rotary was delayed for two months, but in that time he just started with whatever he could cobble together. The local Rotary loaned him money to begin, when he didn't have tile-saws, he just used a wooden cable spool with an electric hand saw to make one. The local tile makers had not previously made baldosa tiles, so he taught them how to make them. The women wanted the stoves in pretty colors, so he found cement dye and now the stoves are available in light rose, green, and yellow as well as in grey. Yesterday Gerry demonstrated the stove factory software to Anibal's son, Eduardo, who was first in his class in sixth grade. I watched Eduardo learn the program and he really understood it all, including depreciation tables, the stove cost calculator and all that's necessary to run a factory. When Gerry finished, Anibal asked if the program would be available for other applications in the valley. We were all thrilled! Today we are off to meet with the owner of a coffee finca who wants to purchase a large number of stoves, but although the Rotary grant money only arrived yesterday, Anibal has already sold 100 and calls for stoves are coming in at about ten a day. We're anxious to bring the group here in November as Don Udo's hotel is so beautiful and comfortable, and Rhina's hotel is as well. If anyone wants to stay after the team, there are language schools, a natural hot springs, horseback trips, archaelogical tours, and much more. I hope to see you here in November. You're going to love it!

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Unknown DATE:Sunday, October 31, 2010 9:51:00 PM I am part of a volunteer group working in the Lake Atitlan area. We have been installing ONIL stoves over the past 5 years, but they are expensive. ($140) I am so interested in Marco Tulio's factory. Where is it? How much do these stoves cost? Thanks Linda Stanton, lindajstanton@gmail.com ----- --------