Changing the Lives of Ethiopian Women with the Pepper Eater
30 Aug
We all know amazing women and mothers who’ve made great sacrifices for their children.
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.
With your help, we can make these women’s dreams a reality.
Students at Stanford University 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.
You can help!
If you want to help us provide safer and more efficient tools, visit our website to learn more or contribute to our efforts to dramatically improve the health and livelihoods of thousands of Ethiopian women.
SSOS is oresently using your Omega peanut grinder to support a school feeding program for 3500 kids (see website). We are now starting a project to help produce ground hot pepper in bulk for export to the Caribbean Region. We would love to test your pepper eater, how can I access two units?
keep up the good work
Jerry La Gra
Hi Jerry, it’s good to hear from you. The Pepper Eater is still in the prototype phase. We are seeking funding so we can produce about 10-20 units for extensive field testing before finalizing the design and putting them into production. We may be able to provide you with prototypes when they’re available, I’ll get in touch with you on the details.