Wonderboxes & Simply Living

'Simply Living, the Story of Compassion and the Wonderbox', by Anne Pearce, published by Box Publications at the author's address: Box-Aid, Orchard Cottage, 11 Hill Top Lane, Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 4AS (tel 0799 23321); 1989, ISBN 1 85421 061 9, 239 pages, L6-95.

Anne Pearce tells the inspiring story of how she and her friends gradually discovered their latent creativity whilst working with the Quakers and an organisation called Compassion in the poorest parts of South Africa and amongst the Crossroads shanty town dwellers. One of their first and most enduring creations was the Wonderbox, consisting of two cushions filled with polystyrene beans, which are used to envelop a cooking pot, as with a haybox. A pot of food is brought to the boil, then tucked between the cushions to prevent the heat escaping, and left to continue cooking away for two or more hours, without using any further fuel - and thus saving paraffin or trees.

For many Africans, the loss of tree cover is changing rain patterns and causing deserts to encroach, and many African women are having to walk miles to obtain wood from trees. It took ten years of effort, but homemade Wonderboxes during that time spread widely amongst the South African blacks. And for us in the pampered industrial countries, the Wonderbox could be relevant, helping us cut back our contribution to the greenhouse effect.

'The Wonderbox, consisting of two cushions filled with polystyrene beans, which are used to envelop a cooking pot, as with a haybox'

Upgrading shanty town life

Other schemes followed in profusion at Compassion. They developed, for instance, a very neat way of making bread without an oven and for keeping it fresh much longer than normal. The dough was simply placed in a plastic bag; once it had risen in the Wonderbox, the neck of the bag was twisted to exclude air, and a knot tied in the bag. This was then boiled for 20 minutes, followed by an hour or so in the Wonderbox; and finally a second knot in the plastic bag helped keep the bread sterile and fresh for a long time.

'A very neat way of making bread without an oven and for keeping it fresh much longer than normal. The dough was simply placed in a plastic bag. This was then boiled for 20 minutes'

In between feeding malnourished children with soya beans, and helping Crossroads women learn to use waste carpet yarn for knitting on large needles made of wood dowling, they demonstrated how to make a tiny and efficient Wonder Oven using a paraffin tin, and helped upgrade the squatter camp with buildings made of chicken wire attached to wooden uprights, backed with discarded plastic and then covered with cement.

Their UK-based charity, Box-Aid, employs no staff but continues their efforts, resulting in new schemes to produce Wonderboxes in Bangladesh, Brazil, India and Africa. And Pearce and Co continuously dream up new uses for the Wonderboxes: for lying on, as foot warmers, cool-boxes for drinks, replacement under-blankets in hospitals, etc. Perhaps 'New Uses for a Wonderbox' could even provide a change from that traditional brainstorming exercise of thinking up unusual uses for a brick.

Wonderboxes are available in the UK at L16 (plus L2-50 p&p) from Wonderbox Products, c/o Anne Pearce (address above).

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