Hondurans Love It

  • Doña Emilia besieged by women who want a Dos por Tres stove.
  • Reina Jaquelin Mejia named the stove El Dos por Tres. This is her drawing.
  • These ladies all came to this initial introduction to the La Justa 2x3.
  • When our truck of materials arrived in their village, these ladies came running.
  • Even in a house as patched as this one, the stove is well taken care of.
  • Trinidad de Copan thanked us with a community gathering.
  • We only build stoves in municipalities from which we have received written solicitations complete with names and identity numbers of women who want the stove. We have hundreds of solicitations.
  • Supervisor Oscar was the contact person for receipt of this award from El Pinal.
  • She is happy because she can burn wood and corncobs in her stove.
  • Gracias de Angelitos 2009

Proyecto Mirador stoves are extremely popular with rural Honduran families. Our proof comes from a stakeholders' meeting, drawings from children whose families have a stove, from awards we receive, and from community management.

In a stakeholders’ meeting in Santa Barbara, Honduras, Proyecto Mirador gathered feedback from village mayors, stove users, opinion leaders, and government representatives.  There were no negative comments, written or spoken, regarding the stove or the project except the complaint that there were not enough stoves being built to satisfy demand. (See Local Stakeholders Consultation Report, December, 2008.)

We receive many "solicitudes" or solicitations on a very regular basis from women who have heard about the stove and want to have them constructed in their villages.  Here is a sample of some of the solicitudes we received in 2010.  In an area where we recently constructed stoves, one woman told us, "My mother lives in a different town and has had her stove for a few years.  Ever since she got one, it has been my dream to have one too."  

Even children understand the benefits of the stove.  In September, 2008, a contest was held to name Proyecto Mirador's improved design of the La Justa stove.  School children in La Vega, a village of about 130 homes, were asked to suggest a name, prepare drawings, and list the benefits of the stove.

The name Dos por Tres was selected from more than 150 entries.  Regina Jaquelin Mejia, a young girl of 11, suggested the name Dos por Tres because it is  Honduran slang for “double time,” or doing something quickly.  She understood that the new stove was quick to boil water, require less wood, remove smoke from her house and, keep her home cleaner.

You can see the work of another student who thought the stove should be called “La Simpatica.” Nubia Perdomo thought the La Justa should be called “Healthy Natural Stove," healthy because it got smoke out of the house, and natural because it conserves wood.  

All the entries listed one or another of the benefits: better health, less wood, better for environment.