How Products Are Made

[nixon748@cox.net]

I was in the Peace Corps in Thailand where everyone used charcoal. I'm now doing mission work in Nicaragua where no one uses charcoal. We have connections to a coffee plantation where trimmings from the coffee bushes are used for fuel.
I'm wondering if I should attempt to teach some of my friends how to make charcoal? Would it be something beneficial, or harmful in the long run?
Would it be a new industry to introduce charcoal production there, using trimmings? Or, would it be environmentally destructive to introduce charcoal? In Nicaraguan homes, which do not have chimneys, would charcoal smoke reduce the high levels of respiratory ailments, or would charcoal smoke be dangerous to people not used to it?
In other parts of Nicaragua I see people cutting off branches from live trees for fuel. Would charcoal be a more efficient use of wood, or does the fuel for production make it a less efficient use of wood?