We’re bringing this: Stoveman Episode 1: Woodwalk to Southern California!

On October 4, 2011, a group will set out from sunny San Diego on a 10-day trek to Los Angeles to do what no other group has done before them: carry 40-60 pound bundles of wood on their backs in honor of, and to bring awareness to, the hundreds of millions of women in this world that cook every meal over an open fire. In much of the world, women and even their daughters are walking up to 10 or 15 miles to collect wood for their families to cook. With all this effort to collect wood, women and their children return to their homes only to cook over a dirty, inefficient fire forcing them to go back to collect wood again a few days later. Amazingly, cooking every meal over an open fire causes the death of nearly 2 million women and children every year from lower respiratory disease.

This journey in honor of those women and the children affect by open fire cooking will consist of challenging and sometimes grueling days of “woodwalking” through Southern California, a place that couldn’t be more different and distant from the world that the 3 billion energy poor in the developing world know so well. Teams from different organizations (Invisible Children, The Modern Gypsies, People of the Second Chance and others) and friends from all over the world will bring the experience of everyday “woodwalkers” right to the front doors, grocery stores, playgrounds, frozen yogurt and coffee shops of the Southern California community.

The purpose is to raise awareness in a compelling way, to engage the community on their home turf and to raise funds for The Paradigm Project to develop its work in East Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi) and to end open fire cooking through clean burning rocket stoves.

Dates: October 4-13

Route: San Diego to Los Angeles

Finale Event: The walk will end in Santa Monica and we’re having an event in Los Angeles at Space 15 Twenty on Thursday, October 13th with a full display of what women go through to cook (including a live open fire cooking demonstration). Attendees will also get a better visual of how The Paradigm Project is changing the cooking paradigm in Kenya with some creative art displays by Rodney Rascona and Moniker. A free RSVP benefit concert by award-winning duo Little Hurricane will cap the event off and get the party going!

You can also look forward to the “African hut” experience, displays and diagrams on the issues around open fire cooking, “rocket stove” displays outlining the benefits of clean burning cookstoves (specifically the rocket stoves that are changing lives in Kenya), a mini “woodwalk” where visitors can experience carrying wood themselves, a Stoveman station where visitors can view all the episodes and take the opportunity to “Fund a $40 stove” through a tax-deductible donation. The event will also include Jedidiah Clothing, a humanitarian fashion company that will be selling our “…Just to Cook?” shirts benefiting the event. These shirts are also available on the Jedidiah website now!

Make sure to RVSP here!

Significant Stops: We’ll be stoping and meeting with some great communities, universities and groups along the way. Our first stop will be at the University of California San Diego campus where we’ll present our “african hut” and display what its like to cook over an open fire for UCSD students. You can see from the link above what our route will be and which neighborhoods we’ll be coming through. We’ll plan on letting you all know where we’re at so you can come hang out with us! Unfortunately, we won’t be opening the walk up to the public due to liability and simply that we don’t have the resources or ability to manage a huge group of walkers taking over the Pacific Coast Highway!

Filming of Stoveman: This walk and event will be the fifth installment of Stoveman. If you haven’t already heard about it, it’s a web show made by us for our followers and fans’ entertainment and intellectual enlightenment about our work (Check it out here). It will focus highly on the teams participating and the experience through their eyes as they advocate for the 3 billion energy poor in the developing world that cook over open fires for every meal and share that experience with the Southern California community. You can expect to see 3 film pieces along the way as well as a final piece sharing the story of the whole event with THE man also know as Austin Mann, Stoveman photographer, co-director, world traveler and friend of The Paradigm Project.

Ask us to speak to or visit your group: If you’d like to meet up with the Stoveman crew on our way up to Los Angeles, please fill out this form and let us know! We’d love to stop by and talk about what we’re doing. We’ll only be able to meet with a few groups so let us know ASAP if you want us to come!

How you can help us: We want you to tweet your brains out during the event. We’ll be using the hash tag “#woodwalk” and we’d love for you to share that with all your friends. We will also be setting up team fundraising pages where you can sponsor a team in the event or start your own fundraiser where you can set your own goals, share your own story and get funding for stoves! Lastly, we want you and all your friends at our event in LA. We’ll be posting event details in the next couple weeks on the venue, but keep Thursday, October 13th open!

Again, don’t forget to RSVP here!

That’s it for now. Thanks to everyone that’s supported Paradigm since we started in 2009. Its been a wild and crazy ride for me and the rest of our team and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

–Greg Spencer

Co-founder, Director Marketing and Social Media