Introducing Solar Cooking in Haiti for AAE

by Joan
(Haiti (depends on the day))

We are a group of volunteer sailors who banded together after the January Earthquake in Haiti. Last year, several boats took several tons of supplies into two main areas far away from the "beaten path". Now additional boats are going Sailors without Borders with items for http://www.aaehaiti.org My part includes communications from the USA, and also turns into solar cookers. We are sending 2 larger/4 smaller cooker kits --taken from a project in Mexico--to test to see if the orphanage leaders will use the technology. The next step..a REAL solar cooker. Can you offer us suggestions on the most portable and successful cookers-we will send photos of the test ones in April/May.




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Greetings Joan,

Thank you for visiting our site and for sharing your account of the charitable work your group has been performing in Haiti, very commendable.

We will be very interested in hearing reports of how the homemade solar cookers you take perform in the refugee camps.

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With regards to the best commercial solar cookers for use in Haiti, I would recommend the Hot Pot Panel Cooker which is a bit more compact than most and is made of durable materials, which, if taken care of can last a lifetime.
Hot Pot Solar Cooker
The Hot Pot is also one of the more reasonably affordable solar cookers. We can help you get pricing information for these cookers if you are interested.

Sun Ovens are a very nice and durable solar cooker as well, and they already have a site that manufactures Global Sun Ovens in Haiti to help reduce the cost of the cookers for the people.
You may wish to contact Sun Ovens International and ask them how they might help you as well.
Info at Sun Ovens

With regards to homemade style solar cookers, one of the best for functionality and durability is the All Season Solar Cooker.(ASSC)
You would be able to make them in larger quantities due to the lower cost of materials and then would be able to have people in the camps replicate and build them for others after learning how to do so themselves.
The main materials needed would be corrugated plastic( quite durable and break resistant) and a reflective materials such as aluminum foil or an adhesive backed reflective material.
Here on the site you can see how an All Season Solar Cooker is built.
It would then need to have an oven roasting bag along with any dark pot/pan and they would be ready to go.
In my opinion, the ASSC is one of the better designs out there for homemade solar cookers.