or many years the people of Central America have been using various types

of smoky, wood cooking stoves. Many are nothing more than three stones placed on the dirt floor of their hut. These cooking methods are very inefficient and cause severe respiratory problems for entire families.  Many of their homes are completely blackened on the inside walls and ceilings due to their use of non-vented modes of cooking inside the home. Also, many burns are caused due to the fact that they cook on their floors.  Burns are the leading cause of death in Central America in children under the age of 5!  

But…..we have a solution!  Just a few years ago, engineer and HELPS volunteer, Donald G. O’Neal designed a simple, vented stove, which not only saves lives (particularly of children and women) but operates very efficiently.  It uses nearly 70% less wood than their old cooking methods, thereby easing the difficult task of gathering the wood, and, of course, saving trees. 

Mr. O’Neal has granted us permission to promote his wonderful invention.  It was named “Onil” by the Mayan women.  This is their pronunciation of his last name, and it is now the proper name of this life-saving stove.

The Onil Stove [see photo] is manufactured in Guatemala, where approximately 28,000 have been installed, but thousands more are needed!   We have devoted this page to the Onil Stove to demonstrate how simple it is for you to assist in bringing better health to people in the countries of Central America, to ease the workload of their women, and to save precious lives. The basic cost of one Onil Stove is $150.00 (U.S. currency).  Cost for delivery and installation is an additional $20.00.

You are invited to visit the following websites for additional details regarding the Onil Stove: 

www.helpsintl.org/stoves and www.onilstove.com

So, for the price of a TV, or tickets to a ball game, or a few trips to your favorite fast food restaurant, you can raise the standard of health of an entire family to a much higher level.  You can help to eliminate respiratory health problems, as well as actually saving lives.

If you are interested in donating one [or more] of these Onil stoves to families in Central America, please refer to our GIVING page.

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This page and its ancillary pages are  © 2007 His Way Missions