We all know amazing women and mothers
who’ve made great sacrifices for their children.
30 August 2012 -
Moms in Ethiopia
are no different, where thousands of women give nearly everything they have,
including their health, to provide their kids with a better future.
An estimated 400,000 women in Ethiopia
process hot peppers by hand—a laborious procedure that turns fresh peppers into
higher-value products of dried flakes, seeds and powder. Women can earn good
money selling pepper products, but the tiring work leaves her hands covered in
hot pepper oil and her eyes, nose, and throat burning from pepper dust in the
air. The work is debilitating; it often takes days for women to recover from
the harsh effects of this process.
Like all moms, these women hope their children can get an education, and
they’re happy to sacrifice their health if it means their daughters won’t have
to do the same.
Students at Stanford University
US developed the Pepper Eater, a device that mills dried peppers with a
hand-crank much faster than and without the side effects of the traditional
method. The students passed their creation along to CTI where some of the
students and other CTI volunteers modified the Pepper Eater and took it to Ethiopia
for additional testing and feedback. To everyone’s delight, it produced pepper
flakes more safely, efficiently and of superior quality to those produced by
traditional methods.
With improved safety and more efficient
tools, women who process peppers for a living can earn more income to support
their families and can avoid the debilitating health problems.
We are establishing local partners in Ethiopia
and are currently seeking funding so we can start building and providing Pepper
Eaters for 10-20 villages for extended field testing.
