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Last edited: 1 February 2016
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Barby Pulliam was the foremost advocate for solar cooking activities within the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) during the years 1990-2008. This tireless worker has conducted workshops in over 50 countries, with an estimated thousands of guide/scout leaders and leaders of other non-governmental groups at the same time.
Ms. Pulliam has created training guides, cookbooks, CDs, PowerPoint presentations, and other educational materials on solar cooking. In the early years of her work she principally conducted workshops for new cooks; later she has concentrated on training others to be the trainers of new solar cooks. A detailed outline for a 5-day training course for trainers is available for leaders of scout groups and other organizations. Her later solar acivities (sometimes in concert with Rotary) have focused on the "Integrated Cooking Method". This approach teaches households how to create a complete cooking system, using a fuel-efficient stove (for times of rain or darkness), a haybox or retained heat cooker, and a solar cooker. Ms. Pulliam is an energetic trainer whose training is always accompanied by songs and exercises, in good Scout tradition.
The overwhelming bulk of her work has been personally supported, at a very considerable cost to her. The WAGGS organization, in turn, has cooperated in the preparation and promotion of a badge in solar cooking for scouts and guides, as well as commitment to the programs of Ms. Pulliam.
Ms. Pulliam's very considerable volunteer effort, her energy and enthusiasm for the cause of solar cooking is noteworthy. It is unfortunate that more adequate documentation of the lasting consequences of her work is not available. The impact on girls and young women may well be considerable and a careful evaluation is clearly called for.
Ms. Pulliam is now (2016) mostly retired, but she continues to speak about and demonstrate solar cooking and to promote Girl Scouting in the local area where she resides. She says that everyone needs to understand "how important Girl Scouts are to the world."