Vessels of Stone and Clay

The scriptures describe us as humble clay vessels; fragile and plain, but carrying something of precious worth. In Africa fresh clean water is of great value. Many people (mostly women) will walk miles each day to carry clean water back to their homes. And yet, once that precious water reaches their home it is typically stored in large oven baked clay pots that are a breeding ground for bacteria and disease. Typically these clay pots are heated in a traditional wood oven that reach merely 300 C. They are porous and soon become home to all sorts of microbes that will contaminate even the cleanest water carried back to the home.

Erica and I have been learning about the struggle for clean water with our friends at the Eastleigh Community Centre through our friend James. A part of their outreach work is in training refugees and the people of Mithare Valley slum and Eastleigh to gain profitable skills (We'll be telling you more about this work in the future). James has been working in the pottery ministry for almost 18 years. They are the only stoneware manufacturers in all of Kenya, producing pots and dishes using local materials in a high powered kelm at 1280 C. Years ago, missionaries from the Netherlands introduced them to safer pottery techniques and glazes with silver that keep the pots from becoming nesting grounds for bacteria. As a self sustainable ministry, the pottery shop trains and employs nearly a dozen people each year and produces high quality stoneware for local hotels, restaurants and tourists. At the same time they are producing safe pottery for local use.



Perhaps one of the most exciting areas of their work has been the recent development of a ceramic water filter system, also being produced from local materials. Like the expensive European filters that most middle class people have in their homes here in Nairobi, these ceramic filters clean local water for safe consumption. The disk filters have been tested and approved by the Kenyan health authority and are regularly tested here for purity and quality control. The Centre is hoping to sell them locally and to distribute them through the area to struggling families.