The Day My Stove Tried to Kill Me

In life, there are good days, there are bad days, and there are days where you almost die. Here in Guinea, as a dirt-poor volunteer, I own a very shoddily made stove that runs on propane. It is easy to use, and while very dangerous, it gets my cooking done in a jiffy. So one day, I had planned a lovely dinner. I had bought eggplant and tomatoes at the market and was going to couple that with tortellini that my family sent. All was going well. I had 2 burners going, when a 12 inch flame shot up where the hose connects to the gas tank to the stove. I don't know how I moved so quickly, but I immediately shut off the gas, and the fire stopped. It was the gas from the tank that was fire, so with no more gas flow, no more fire. I stood in my kitchen shaking, and crying with the realization that my life could've ended. A gas tank exploding? Not a pretty way to go.

Once I had calmed down a little bit, I tried to call the volunteer who had organized the stove buying. No luck. Then, I tried calling the principal, so that I could try to get my hands on the kind of stoves they use here. After all, I still wanted to eat, and dinner was only half cooked. Well, his phone was dead, so I was left with a final option, go outside and talk to my neighbors who don't speak French. I started ranting to them, while they grunted and nodded at the appropriate times. Finally, they stopped me, and were said, yeah, we don't understand what you are saying, but have some tea! Eventually, they found someone who spoke enough French to understand, and before I knew it, I was sitting in front of my house preparing the rest of my dinner.

For several days after this occurrence, I was too scared to use my stove, and continued to cook outside with charcoal. I swear, I didn't choose to contribute to deforestation! As could be expected, me cooking outside for all the world to see is quite an ordeal. My neighbors all congregate around the house to watch the white person cooking her weird food. While this kind of stove has no temperature control, and takes forever, I found myself enjoying it and even now that my stove is “fixed” I still like to use it from time to time. I sit outside with music playing, and watch the kids dance while stirring whatever it is I'm cooking. It's nice to cook dinner and not have to worry about your life ending.  

Cooking Guinean style!

This is it. The stove that tried to kill me. 

My Makeshift kitchen