Keeping vegetables and fruit fresh is very important. Here is a simple idea for a low-cost cooler. Take a large deep cooking pan, with no handles, to the local potters. Ask the potter to make a large, unglazed clay pot with a lid and a rim or ledge inside which can support the pan. The pot needs to have a lip through which water can be poured, some ventilation holes and a wide space between the walls of the pot and the pan.
Fill the pan with clean fruit or vegetables and place in the pot. Keep out of direct sunlight. Put a lid on the pot and fill with water through the lip. Check the water level daily and keep filled. Water in the pot evaporates in the heat and will keep the pan inside cool so that fruit and vegetables remain in good condition for three or four days.
Pascal Kazadi-Tshindinda, ADCO/EEAC, BP 1377, Bujumbura, Burundi.