Darfur Solar Cookers Project

The Solar Cooker Project not only serves to protect women, but also provides them with income opportunities through manufacturing solar cookers, training others to use the cookers, and making carrying bags to increase the cookers life span. It gives the women a sense of pride to be able to contribute to their household. This project has been successfully realized in the Iridimi and Touloum refugee camps and is now in the Oure Cassoni camp. Jewish World Watch plans to initiate this project in other camps with the goal of reducing the number of crimes committed against refugee women.

$30 SOLAR COOKER Donation Provides:

• 2 Solar Cookers per family
  2 Pots
  2 Pot Holders
  Year's supply of plastic bags
  Skills Training for refugee women and girls

See Video about the Solar Cookers in Darfur: "The Women of Iridimi"

Read more about the Solar Cooker project here.

Solar Cooker News

Rachel Andres, Director of the JWW Solar Cooker Project recently traveled to Geneva Switzerland as an invited guest of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

She attended the Humanitarian Symposium and Prize Dinner Ceremony a one-day international symposium attended by humanitarian and human rights decision-makers from around the world.  While in Geneva, Rachel met with UNHCR representatives Craig Johnstone, Deputy High Commissioner; Hawa Sylla-Kane, Senior Desk Officer for Chad; Sudan and Chad Special Unit, Preeta Law, and Valentine Ndibalema, Senior Environment Coordinator.  As the refugees will not being going back to Darfur for 2-3 years at the earliest, conversations focused on the a shift from working in “emergency” mode to a more “sustainable” mode.   
 
A meeting was held with Dr. Robert Glasser,  Secretary General of CARE International.  CARE runs the Iridimi and Touloum camps in Chad where the first 2 Solar Cooker Projects operate. Rachel gave a presentation on the Solar Cooker Project and the evaluation of the Iridimi refugee camp project to the World Health Organization (WHO).  Rachel also met with Derk Rijks, Founder and implementer of Tchad Solaire, the NGO that runs the solar cooker project on the ground in the refugee camps in Chad of the Chad projects.

In April and May 2008, JWW held meetings with top officials from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to discuss the Solar Cooker Project and its potential expansion to several new camps in eastern Chad. On April 26, 2008 representatives from Jewish World Watch had the honor of meeting with UN High Commissioner António Guterres and Michel Gabaudan, UNHCR's regional representative for the United States (DC) to make a presentation about the Solar Cooker Project. In May 2008, Janice Kamenir-Reznik, JWW Founding President, Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, JWW Executive Director and Rachel Andres, Director of the JWW Solar Cooker Project held follow-up discussions with UNHCR officials, as well as the Chadian Ambassador to the US and his wife on the topic. The discussions took place in New York following conference of the Charles Bronfman Prize upon Rachel Andres, JWW’s nominee for the award.