Tim Hoisington helps Petrona López with her new stove.

Since she was 7 years old, Petrona López, originally from Diriomo, Granada, cooked on a stove fueled by firewood. In the past five months her cooking equipment has changed, thanks to a project executed by Peace Corps in the country, which makes better stoves and ovens as part of its work abroad.

López, now 74 years old, talks excitedly about the benefits of her new kitchen tools: she burns herself less now and doesn’t have to breathe in smoke anymore. Many others happily share this joy of safer cooking equipment, and want to thank Timothy Hoisington, a local Peace Corps volunteer, for his hard work. He has already built 10 new stoves in the community, which are estimated to reduce emissions by 82%. For people like López, this also means saving money because they need to buy less firewood.

Hoisington came to Nicaragua in 2012, training to improve his Spanish and learning how to grow a garden, then moving to Diriomo to work with two public schools: La Concepción y Rubén Darío de Diriomo. He works with students in third, fifth, and sixth grade, sharing strategies and materials with other teachers. Teaching natural sciences, Hoisington teaches students to construct gardens and to create organic fertilizer.

Translated from the Spanish article by Kira Withrow ’14.
Click here for the original article in Spanish.