Project poster (PDF)

Health

Mexico

Basic technology to make life better

Before Leovijilda de Jesus García received an MCC stove, each time she cooked or even started a fire to heat water, smoke filled her home, blackening the walls and roof.

"The strength of the smoke would make tears come," she remembers. "They still tell me my lungs are bad, and it has to do with the smoke."

Her new stove, which has a pipe that draws smoke up and out of the house, is part of an MCC effort to improve the health and lives of families in rural villages in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. "It’s better now," García said. And because the fire is enclosed, she no longer has to watch out for flames that would sometimes burn her arms.

In this region, where water is often scarce in the dry season, MCC also provides technical assistance and molds for dry latrines. For many people, including García, an MCC latrine replaces a toilet that released waste directly onto the ground instead of containing it. And by using a dry latrine, families no longer need to haul water to their homestead each day to use for their toilets.

If contributions to a project exceed the amount needed, MCC will use the donations to support similar projects.