Selling Charcoal

The primary source of fuel for cooking, at least in the rural areas, is charcoal. We see sellers of charcoal along the roads everywhere. These merchants are in the village of Athi River about 8 miles from our campus. Along the roads, we also can see places where they do the slow burning to make the charcoal. There is a major concern in Kenya about the deforestation involved in making charcoal. Legislation to curb this activity does not appear to be very successful. The Karaus (native Kenyans), who live in the flat next to ours, have a little charcoal burner in the breezeway between our flats, where they often have beans cooking for several hours.