Paying it Forward

September 2007

Chicagoans Kevin Adair and Paul Munsen are bringing prosperity to the Dominican Republic via the sun

By Brooke Bailey

Photo: Courtesy El Fuego del Sol

Chicago’s bustling Navy Pier is a place Chicagoan Kevin Adair knows well. For 10 years he made a living captivating visitors with his juggling, stilt walking, and fire spinning routines, performing over 600 gigs. Then, in September of 2005, he was approached about performing at resorts in the Dominican Republic (DR), a country whose climate is referred to as “endless summer.” He went down there an entertainer, but soon had a transformative experience that set him on a new path, one he walks today.

As Adair traveled from resort to resort, he was exposed to the harsh reality of Dominican life — one that stood in sharp contrast to the Dominican Republic’s five-star tourist façade.

Consider this: A well-off Dominican family collectively makes about $10 a day, about $300 per month. Of that, $30 to $50 is spent on cooking fuel, either charcoal, which is made from wood, or propane. The problem is cooking with wood and charcoal is causing massive deforestation on the island, particularly across the border in neighboring Haiti. Flying over the island of Hispaniola, one can clearly see the snaking tree line border between the two countries, with trees on the Dominican side and sheer clear cutting on the Haitian. Women who cook with charcoal are developing respiratory and ocular diseases from inhaling in fire smoke that’s equivalent to three packs of cigarettes per day.

Here Comes the Sun

“I saw that the Dominican Republic is an area where there is so much sun, all the time, and yet practically no solar energy,” Adair reflects. Having serendipitously just heard about solar ovens on Chicago Public Radio’s “Global Activism” series, Kevin realized they would work really well in the DR. As the “ultimate solar appliance,” a Sun Oven uses aluminum reflectors to direct the sun’s energy through a tempered glass door into a cooking chamber. Oven temperatures reach 360-400 degrees F, cooking times are often comparable to conventional ovens, and food never burns! Adair contacted Paul Munsen, the president of Sun Ovens International, and asked him what it would take to bring Sun Ovens to the DR.

Munsen, also a Chicagoan, entered the business ten years ago, originally as a favor to help the inventor of the Sun Oven, whose product at the time was causing a financial headache. Coming from a background in business marketing, Paul admitted he “knew absolutely nothing about solar cooking, didn’t know what deforestation meant and had no concept of anything when it came to the environment or the needs of the developing world.”

Today Sun Ovens are used in over 125 countries, and Munsen’s motivation has changed. His driving force became alleviating hunger in developing countries where people at the end of the day have to decide whether they are going to buy a handful of rice or a piece of charcoal. This sobering truth inspired Munsen to expand his business into Haiti, Ghana, and the DR, with three new manufacturing sites scheduled to open in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya by the end of the year.

It was Munsen’s protégé Kevin Adair who opened Fuerza de Sol, the Sun Oven manufacturing plant in the DR located on his 60-acre ecotourism center, El Fuego del Sol. The manufacturing plant is part of a “free/fair trade” zone Adair was able to negotiate with the Dominican government. They provided a 14,000 square foot warehouse for a free trade manufacturing site, with tax abatements to encourage foreign investment. Adair made it a “fair trade” zone in that he only employs locals at a living wage.

The pitch for El Fuego del Sol is a unique one: for the same amount of money visitors spend on a tourist activity such as deep-sea fishing, they can spend a day at El Fuego del Sol interacting with Dominicans, learning about the island’s history and culture, and sharing a traditional Dominican meal cooked in a Sun Oven. Visitors’ payment for the day’s activities is then used to purchase, or “pay forward,” a Sun Oven for a Dominican or Haitan family.

The concept of helping people who need more opportunities, while one is on vacation, is a sharp departure from mainstream tourism. Adair’s philosophy is “if you’re going to use the fuel to get to a place far away, make sure that what you do there is worth the use of the fuel.”

Adair’s projects are certainly worth the fuel it took to get him there. Dominicans are receptive to the Sun Ovens, particularly because they save money. Also, they’re beginning to understand that Sun Ovens save trees, a strong selling point since many Dominicans have traveled between the DR and Haiti and witnessed deforestation.

On site, the El Fuego del Sol staff is finishing the development of the property and preparing for the grand opening Solar Banquet festival on September 8th, 2007, which will also be a dedicated Sun Oven giveaway day. Their first annual Sustainability Festival, conceptually similar to the Green Festival, is also in the works and will take place March 24-31, 2008.

Adair’s driving belief is that we are here to “take care of the planet and others, do the best that we can in our own success, and be the best reflection we can of the greater power.” He considers his work in the DR spiritually based, because in his view, “we’re here to be a witness to all we can as we celebrate in our own way.”

To learn more about the projects of these Chicagoans, how you can get involved with their work, or how Sun Ovens can be used right in your own backyard, visit sunovens.com and forceofthesun.net.

Brooke Bailey is a Chicago-area writer and intern for Conscious Choice.