The 10th of March 2007, we Frederikke (left) and Ida (right)  embarked on our biggest challenge yet - we went to Peru to teach - explanation follows...

Who are we?

We study business, language, and culture at Copenhagen Business School. Altogether have travelled in more than forty countries, lived in seven - almost nine - and have been accepted into the Instituto Technològico de Etudios Superiores Monterrey and San Fracisco State University respectively after the summer holiday.

In 1999 Ida was one of the students from the Danish Municipal School of Rønde who invented a solarstove that could rotate 360 degrees after the sun, as part of a school project about renewable energy around the world. The students created the organization Global Ecology to develop and further the use and knowledge of their solarstove. She has set up solarstoves at the orphanages where she and her sister came from in Mumbai India, she has also been a part of the organizations venture to set up a local production of solarstoves in South Africa.

Frederikke has been the chairwoman of the Danish project Operation Aid Day (Operation Dagsværk) she recently joined the organization – this is her first trip.

Our goal

To show the next generation of resourceful young people how a small-scale development project can be undertaken, from idea to practise. To get young people like ourselves involved with – and informed about world poverty, sustainable development and environmental issues.

We will work towards this goal one step at a time starting at the IB school Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt - American School of Lima in Peru. During our intensive course students will get a hands on experience with project planning, fundraising and the implementation of the solarstove into a poor area.

Our invention

The solarstove was designed to meet the challenge that many families in less economically developed countries face – having to spend a large percentage of their resources on paying for or collecting – often polluting fuel. It is designed to help the local infrastructure in terms of home economics and environment friendly consumption, to make use of an abundant renewable energy source – the sun.

Every day the world receives 22,000 times as much energy from sunlight as we consume. The most intense sunlight falls over some of the poorest areas in the world. This invention allows users to manually place the solar stove in order to obtain maximum efficiency. Using this method it is possible to boil water used for cooking or drinking water, and thus kill potentially deadly bacteria.

The future - presently under construction

We wish to use our project will serve as a model for future educational ventures around the world. We hope that the project will spread like rings in the water - If we could inspire just one student at each international school we would have thousand of engaged individuals working to implement and develop the solarstove to suit local needs. International students are perfect for this job because they are global citizens whose knowledge of their host country, educational background and insight into world issues provides them with the ballast to take on such a challenge.

We would like to thank Niels and Tina Thorborg from L'easy for their invaluble help!