MACOHA. It’s a beautiful word, the sound of it. It is an acronym for the Malawi Council for the Handicapped which, in Lilongwe, helps people with disabilities in rehabilitation, education, and vocational training. It’s all about inclusion, and a kind helping hand. MACOHA. A beautiful word, for an organization that does beautiful things.

MACOHA in Lilongwe is a busy place, successful in its work and passionate to help as many as it can. Money is always tight, and every penny counts. The cost of preparing healthy meals for patients had become an overwhelming expense. Cooking with electricity proved unreliable and way too expensive. Smoky open-fire cookstoves use charcoal and wood, but charcoal became too expensive as the local forests disappeared, and firewood still had to be purchased once a week. It was a persistent problem.

That problem found a solution when, with your support, this project installed improved cookstoves that dramatically reduce firewood consumption, and which cook efficiently, quickly, and cleanly. No more costly electricity or charcoal, and the savings go directly to helping patients. Firewood use was reduced so much that it is now purchased monthly, not weekly.

Everybody at MACOHA is pleased with the new cookstoves, the patients, the staff, and, especially, the cooks, Chancy and Henry, both highly entertaining. They tell us that the stoves are great to use and easy to maintain. They get very excited telling us how little wood they use, and how little smoke they produce.

Planet Earth is excited, too. At institutions across Malawi, these improved cookstoves have eliminated over three million tonnes of carbon emissions, and have saved millions of trees. By supporting this project, you have done a beautiful thing, for MACOHA, for its courageous patients, and for our climate. Thank you!