Haiti Solar Oven Project Feeds a Village - Some History

Thanks to a collaboration with the Howard University School of Physics Dr. Thorpe, and Sharon Mitchell, my long time dream of using renewable energy in Haiti is a reality.

The wonderful Villager Sun Oven manufactured by Sun Ovens International was made available to the ministry to provide a micro enterprise in the rural area of Anse-a-veau, Haiti. Paul Munsen, president of Sun Ovens, drove all the way from Illinois to take the oven from the Howard University Research Center back to the factory for a complete overhaul to make sure everything was working properly. The oven was then crated and trucked to Pennsylvania for the next leg of the journey…..shipment to Haiti! The oven arrived at the carrier on May 9, 2006 and in Haiti in late summer of 2006!

In the meantime, 3 Haitians completed the course of solar cooking at the Free Methodist Solar Energy Program in Port-au-Prince. They learned to cook with the sun in a cardboard box with aluminum foil! They were so excited that they all want to go back to their rural villages and start a SCHOOL!! Can you believe that? This is exactly the kind of motivation that we want. They were educated about the environmental issues facing them in the deforestation of their country and they wanted to help do something to preserve their environment.

Three out of the five students selected attended the course and completed it. Five students were scheduled to take the advanced course to learn how to use the big solar oven and how to manage a micro-bakery utilizing solar energy.

The door to the oven which heats up to 500 degrees without the use of electricity or any fossil fuel even on cloudy days. For extended or heavy cloud cover, a propane tank is available until the sun peeps through again. The oven sets on a small trailer for easy transport. It’s 1,000 lbs of pure technology with a life span of decades. Thanks Dr. Thorpe (Physics Department), Ms.Sharon Mitchell, Dr. English and Mr. Paul Munsen of Sun Ovens International! Haiti thanks you for being a part of her development and for making it possible to feed its children and to train willing hands to learn the art of baking.

We give a special thanks to the Howard University School of Divinity for its assistance and support with our Haitian Ministry. As a graduate , I am extremely proud of the global outreach of my University and seminary.