NAREWAMA

Last edited: 1 March 2018

Faustine Odaba 2001 — Faustine Odaba leads a solar cooking demonstration for **NAREWAMA**.

Firelesscollection NAREWAMA 2016 — Heat-retention cookers of many different designs - Photo: Bernie Mueller

The NAREWAMA (Natural Resources and Waste Management Alliance) is a non-governmental organization working primarily in Kenya to raise solar cooking awareness, and generally teaching local community members how everyday discarded items can be recycled into useful, colorful products. The founder and director of the organization is Faustine Odaba.

Faustine began in the early 1990s as an active member and a leader of the Amagoro Housewives Group in the Busia District of western Kenya. The group obtained a solar box cooker from US Peace Corps volunteer Barbara Ross, and soon learned to be expert solar cooks. Soon they made contact with Solar Cookers International and learned to make simple solar panel cookers from cardboard and tinfoil.

In 1994, Faustine and other members of the Amagoro Housewives attended the first Kenya-wide solar cooking conference. As the only seasoned Kenyan solar cooks in attendance, they were stars of the show, overwhelming the doubts of skeptics with their first-hand experience of solar cooking success.

The group evolved into NAREWAMA, and they continue to provide solar cooking training to communities throughout Kenya. In 2013, Ms. Odaba and traveled to Liberia at the request of Marylanders for Progress (Liberia) to introduce solar cooking to communities eager to learn about this technology.

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Fireless cooker workshop Faustine O — Fireless cooker workshop held at the Armstrong Women Empowerment Centre in Rabuor under the direction of Faustine Odaba. *Photo credit: John Amayo*

March 2018: The fireless cooker workshops held at the Armstrong Women Empowerment Centre in Rabuor are made possible with donations from Lernen - Helfen - Leben e.V. in Germany. The workshop is led by Faustine Odaba of Natural Resources and Waste Management Alliance (NAREWAMA) based in Nairobi.

Kakuma_refugee_camp_setting_the_pace_in_use_of_renewable_energy — Kakuma refugee camp setting the pace in use of renewable energy

April 2017: On April 29, 2017, a solar cooking festival for 500 schoolchildren was held at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. The idea was originated by three of the participants at the 6th SCI World Conference 2017, put on in January by Solar Cookers International in Gujarat, India. Roger Haines, CEO of Haines Solar Cookers, Ritesh Raithatha, CEO of Simplified Technologies for Life, and Godfrey Mawira Kaburu, an engineer with the World Food Program in Nairobi. At the Gujarat conference, Godfrey presented the results of his study showing that in October, 2016, solar cooking was the second-most preferred method of cooking at the Kakuma Refugee Camp, even though very few solar cookers were available. To create an inexpensive, durable cooker for the festival, Roger collaborated with Sharon Clausson, designer of the Copenhagen Solar Cooker, to design a “Haines-Copenhagen” cooker using Roger’s metallized polyester (MPET) foam reflector, and a UV-resistant polycarbonate Haines Cooking Sleeve. The cookers were made in Kakuma by refugees from materials donated by Haines Solar Cookers, and should last 10 years with proper care. Ritesh’s company, Simplified Technologies for Life, has produced “Suryakumbh” solar cooking festivals for almost 120,000 participants in India, and holds the Guinness Record for the most people solar cooking at the same time: 7,438. Ritesh and his colleague, Vivek Kabra, provided expertise and leadership for the festival. Godfrey put together a team of experts, including Mwenda Wilkinson, who handled the logistical, financial, and personnel details. The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) generously donated the services of Raphael Nyabala and Wilson Kinyua and many others to recruit the children and provide facilities and transportation. Funding was provided by Haines Solar Cookers and the San Diego, California, Rotary Club. Additional support and resources came from Solar Household Energy (SHE), a Washington, DC solar cooking organization. Other partners included Eco-Mandate, which sells solar cookers in Chuka, Kenya, the Alliance for African Assistance, a San Diego-based refugee resettlement organization, and the Rotaract Club of the University of California, San Diego, which made 500 Water Pasteurization Indicators (WAPIs) for the Festival participants. Training was provided by Faustine “Mama Solar” Odaba, and her Nairobi NGO, NAREWAMA. Significantly, Ms. Odaba had been one of the trainers in 1995 when SCI first introduced solar cookers in Kakuma. Before the festival, 50 refugee women were trained to use the cookers, and they in turn trained the children. The festival took place at Hope Primary School in Kakuma Camp Four. During the festival, “Mama Solar” set up fifteen cookers and cooked a wide variety of food, including rice, vegetables chicken, eggs, cabbage, ugali, beans and cake. The children sat in neat rows as trainers handed out the cookers, cooking pots, food and water. Each child assembled their own cooker, and successfully cooked delicious noodles before an enthusiastic crowd of family members and relatives. The children were elated and proudly showed off their new cookers. Follow up studies are planned, and Roger Haines is working with a local entrepreneur to offer Haines-Copenhagen solar cookers for sale in Kakuma for a sustainable price of around $25 USD.

October 2016: EcoZoom meets Mama Solar! - Ecozoom UK

Odaba Haines cooker at Jericho PR School 2016 — *Photo Bernie Müller*

March 2016: Faustine Odaba demonstrated the Haines Solar Cooker and the SunRocket Evacuated Tube Cooker at the Jericho PR School.
February 2016: Steam collection in evacuated tube cooking: Faustine Odaba from NAREWAMA, describes the behavior of steam inside a tilted vacuum evacuated tube.

March 2015: Cook fireless with enthalpy, not fuel - NAREWAMA

Faustine Odaba, in Uganda, 2-11-15 — Faustine Odaba (Mama Solar) explains the use of a CooKit solar cooker.

February 2015: Mama Solar continues her work - Faustine Odaba, founder of NAREWAMA, gives a presentation on cooking with the CooKit in Kyamulibwa, Uganda on February 11, 2015.

Faustine Odaba poses for photo with the event organizers and facilitators.
Solar cookers and plastic waste recycled items made by NAREWAMA on display at Tangaza college.

October 4, 2014: Natural Resource and Waste management Alliance was invited to the launch of Kenya Interfaith Network on Environmental Action (KINEA); a network of faith groups that are propelled by their faith values to care for environment. The event was held at Tangaza college in Nairobi and was attended by various universities, colleges, NGOs, and religion groups. The guest of honour was Rt. Rev.Bishop Alfred Kipkoech Arap Rotich, the military ordinariate of the Catholic church in Kenya. The event was attended by over a hundred participants. KINEA engages in programs related to climate change and livelihood enhancement which include: ,promotion of tree growing faith owned/ managed institutions and land, faith based education for sustainable development(ESD), and faith based sustainable agriculture and wildlife conservation programs.

Mama solar presents Roger Hains solar cooker and fireless cooker to Alliance of Women in coffee after training at the coffee plaza in Nairobi
Mama solar facilitating on the use of fireless cooker and solar cookers during training of Alliance of Women in coffee in Nairobi
Mama solar poses for a photo with participants (Alliance of women in coffee) after training at coffee plaza office in Naiobi

September 25, 2014: A training of 30 Alliance women was held at coffee plaza office in Nairobi. The women were trained on solar cooking, plastic wastes recycling, and water testing. They learned about the need to be self reliant and environment conservation.

September 2014: Faustine Odaba recently demonstrated solar cooking to interested Makerere University students and to employees of Awamu Biomass Energy Ltd. in Kampala, Uganda.
September 2014: Launch of the new website: NAREWAMA, located in Nairobi, Kenya and under the direction of Faustine Odaba, has brought their organization and activities online. Visit at: Natural Resources and Waste Management Alliance - NAREWAMA
October 2013: Faustine Odaba and Nicholas Okeya present a solar cooking and haybasket during a festivity of the Catholic Church in Nairobi.