Solar-Powered Cooking for Every Family in Nakivale
In Nakivale Refugee Settlement, finding wood or charcoal is a daily struggle. We build hybrid solar cookstoves and press organic waste into green briquettes. This gives refugee families a clean, affordable, and smoke-free way to cook meals using the power of the sun.
About us
Founded in 2020 by refugee entrepreneur Avith Mpfukamensabe in Nyarugugu C Village, Nakivale, our association was created to solve an urgent crisis. We tackle severe firewood shortages, rising charcoal costs, and toxic indoor smoke by combining solar technology with recycled waste briquettes.
How Solar Power Transforms the Kitchen
In off-grid refugee settlements like Nakivale, traditional stoves waste up to 80% of their heat energy and produce thick, harmful smoke. Gathering wood takes hours every day, and buying charcoal drains small household budgets.
Our hybrid cookstoves integrate a compact solar panel and rechargeable battery directly onto the stove unit. Sunlight powers an internal micro-fan that pumps controlled air into the fire chamber.
No smoke in the kitchen, so the air in the home stays clean
Fewer trees cut, so the settlement and Lake Nakivale are better protected.
Clean Energy, Smoke-Free Air, Local Jobs
By bringing solar technology into everyday cooking, we turn a daily burden into an opportunity. We pay refugee women daily wages to collect organic waste, turn that waste into "green charcoal" briquettes, and train refugee youth as solar technicians. Sunlight handles the heat, recycled waste handles the fuel, and our community earns a living.
How Our Model Works: From Waste to Clean Energy
Solar engineering and community waste collection, working together in Nakivale:
Collect: Refugee women gather household organic waste and earn daily wages.
Press: The waste is carbonized into clean briquettes in Nyarugugu C Village.
Assemble: Young refugee technicians build the solar-powered hybrid stoves.
Cook: A solar fan feeds the fire, giving smoke-free heat with 75% less fuel.
Reinvest: Sales income trains more youth and puts stoves in more homes.
Follow our work in Nakivale
Get occasional updates about clean cooking, our community projects, and the progress we're making together.