Growing up,
and quite frankly even today, there are several things you will always find in my mother’s kitchen. Back then, it was the small green kerosene stove! Gosh, with all I know today, the dangers we were unknowingly exposed to! Thankfully, we stopped using the kerosene stove more than three decades ago. We also applaud the government for banning kerosene use, a crucial step toward cleaner cooking. Then, of course, there was the Kenya Ceramic Jiko (KCJ), a must-have. My brother and I hated this thing with a passion because lighting it required so much effort! We always prayed for divine intervention, preferably in the form of holy fire, as we waved a metallic sufuria lid like our lives depended on it. And then there was the prized two-burner gas top—strictly for boiling milk, making tea (only if you were running late in the morning), and, of course, for those late-night meat deliveries from dad. The nostalgia!
At the time, I didn’t think much of it. It was just how things were—different cooking options, depending on what was available and affordable. Fast forward to today, and I’ve learned that this practice has a name: stacking.
In a recent meeting, an ESG team we were presenting to asked what can be done to avoid stacking. Doesn’t it slow the transition to clean cooking? My answer was simple: stacking, when done right, is part of the transition. The key is ensuring that as households stack, they are moving from Tier 0 to at least Tier 3 or 4, and at the very worst, Tier 2.
Just like in my childhood home, stacking remains a necessity today, but the difference now is that we have better, cleaner options. Lowaki exists to ensure that households are transitioning to improved cookstoves, not simply maintaining the status quo with harmful traditional methods. Through our work as aggregators, we provide options that range from improved charcoal and briquette stoves to LPG and electric pressure cookers. We do this because we understand that affordability and accessibility dictate choice, but that should not mean compromising health and the environment.
Household air pollution is a real and present danger. It affects health, increases respiratory diseases, and contributes to environmental degradation. That is why, at Lowaki, we are not just about selling stoves; we are about changing lives. Every product we support is carefully selected to ensure that as households stack, they are always stepping towards a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future.
