Summer 2009 Update
Great strides were made for the Kenya Ceramic Project (KCP) this past summer as two medical students from the University of Alberta, Subir Sutradhar and Serena Cheung, spent two months in Western Kenya. The team worked closely with Joshua Machinga, local director of a community-based organization named Common Ground for Africa (CGA). The KCP is constructing its new, high-output ceramic filter factory at the CGA site in the village of Kiminini. This site provides great access to necessary resources, major trade centers, and distribution networks. This should translate into the filters being produced, transported, and sold at a very low cost.
This summer the team was able to build on the KCP’s relationships with several key organizations. UNICEF Kenya has continued to show interest by agreeing to provide access to their distribution networks and to potentially subsidize the ceramic filters and stoves once production is up and running. This will better ensure that people with the greatest need will be supplied, especially in emergency management situations. Other relationships that were fostered were with the Mumias Sugar Company and Pan-African Paper Mills.
One major accomplishment of this past summer was the acquirement of three-phase electric power for Kiminini. This will be necessary for powering the machines involved in the filter-making process. In addition to powering the new factory, the installation of three-phase electric power will benefit the community and the local primary school. To get ready for factory operation, the machines required some modifications. A skillful local engineer, Mr. Singh of Rao Engineering Center, was found in nearby Kitale. Mr. Singh was very enthusiastic about working with the KCP and possibly being a consultant if machine modifications and adjustments were needed in the future.
The brand new ceramic filter press was tested at Rao Engineering Center. There was some trial and error involved, but the first filter produced using this press (although slightly misshapen) was a beautiful sight indeed! There were big smiles all around!
In addition to making preparations for the new factory and fostering large-scale partnerships, several relationships were built in and around the community, as these will be essential for the project’s future success. Serena visited several women’s groups and pottery groups (including our old friend, Musa Omumia) to discuss the possibility of working with the KCP to make and market the ceramic filters and stoves. Serena found that most were very excited at the opportunity to potentially help themselves and their community.
There was much accomplished in the summer of 2009 but there is much more left to do. Lots of headway was made and the project is in a great position to move forward in the hands of Joshua Machinga at CGA. Patrick McConnell, a business graduate from the University of Alberta, is the next KCP volunteer and will be in Kenya from mid-August, 2009 to the end of January, 2010. Good luck, Patrick!
22 September 2008 - New Partnerships, and a Bright New Future
The Kenya Ceramic Project will soon be partnering with Village Volunteers, an American-based NGO and Common Ground, a Kenyan community based organization operating in the village of Kiminini. These partnerships will allow for the construction of a new high-output factory devoted to the full-time production of filters. The factory will be built at the Common Ground site, and will be much closer to major trade centers and resources, allowing the filters to be produced and transported at a much lower cost.
This is a very exciting time for all, as we are getting ever closer to achieving our goal of a self-sustaining filter producing facility! More details to come soon.
Summer 2008 Kenya Trip a Success!
The new Kenya Ceramic Project team has recently returned to Canada, after spending two months in Western Kenya. This year, a team of ten students and volunteers were recruited to continue work on the project and shoot a new documentary film exposing the water and fuel crisis facing East Africa .
Thanks to the work of the team, a fully functioning pilot factory is now in operation, dedicated to producing ceramic filter prototypes for testing and distribution to the community. The first 100 suitable filters are currently being circulated to households with children under the age of five. These families are being surveyed and followed within the community to assess the real life impact of the filters in decreasing the incidence of diarrheal disease.
Machines have recently been constructed to automate the filter making process. This will not only allow for a higher output of production, but will also ensure that the quality of the filters is controlled and remains constant.
Apart from working in the Western Province, team members have been traveling to the Rift Valley, Northern Province, and the Lake Victoria and Nairobi areas, promoting and marketing the filters. Relations have been re-established with UNICEF Kenya and a partnership for the future is in the works to sell and distribute the filters and stoves!
Two volunteers, Carmen Binding and Andrew Lunse from the University of Calgary, are still currently operating and overseeing the project in Kenya. They will remain there through the winter until a new U of A team can be sent in the summer of 2009.
19 May 2008 - First Annual "Kenya Run for Water"
The Kenya Run for Water on May 11th was a huge success! Thanks to all the volunteers and everyone who came out to run. We couldn't have done it without you! Stay tuned for details about next year's run. 
Listen to a CBC Radio Edmonton Interview on February 5th, 2008
26 January 2008
Local potter Musa Omumia reviews new designs for KCP stove prototypes
Local workers finish the floor of the KCP factory in Kabula
Sugarcane waste (bagasse) is provided by Mumias Sugar
A kiln dedicated to KCP stoves is constructed in Ekero
Trouble In Kenya: Still Pursuing Our
Goal
A full month after disputed elections, much of Kenya
still suffers
from chaos and disruption. While hundreds of thousands of Kenyans
have been displaced due to violence, the Kenyan shilling has hit a
ten-month low, transportation and trade has been disrupted, and many
necessary goods are unavailable. International funding has been cut
and development projects of all sorts have retreated from the country.
Yet despite difficulties and resulting setbacks, the Kenyan Ceramic
Project (KCP) maintains its hopes of providing affordable and
sustainable technologies for the benefit of the environment, the
pocketbooks, and the health of Kenyans. As the situation for the
millions of Kenyans looks increasingly difficult, KCP's technologies
(ceramic water filters to eliminate bacteria from drinking water,
high-efficiency cooking stoves to reduce fuel usage and smoke, and
fuel alternatives to wood) are even more urgently needed.
Adaptation And Flexibility: Biomass Briquettes As
An Alternative Fuel
By working at a grassroots level and listening to the
concerns of
everyday Kenyans, KCP has been able to adapt as it has progressed. As
filter prototyping continued and with increased appreciation of the
local situation, it became clear that firewood and wood charcoal
required for ceramic firing was not only difficult to acquire, it was
extremely expensive. Rapidly increased agricultural land use in East
Africa, especially Western Kenya, has resulted in massive
deforestation. Using firewood to produce water filters would be
detrimental to the environment, as important to the long-term health
and survival of Kenyans as clean water. As well, introducing a
technology dependent on fuel so expensive for local producers would
make it impossible for Kenyans to adopt as their own - essential for
the success of KCP. The production of biomass fuel briquettes has
thus been pursued: compacting local organic materials (such as
sawdust, leaves, and paper waste) for fuel will not only allow water
filters to be made cheaper and with less impact to the environment, it
will provide another income-generating opportunity for local
community-based organizations and give Kenyan families a affordable
alternative to wood charcoal for daily cooking.
KCP has learned much from the Uganda Gender Rights Foundation
(supported by the Legacy Foundation), who has generously shared their
knowledge of and experience with briquette production. Meanwhile, the
great help from Dr. Lowell Baker, Professor of Ceramics at the
University of Alabama, has provided another environmentally-conscious
alternative to wood fuel: a sugarcane waste fuel injection system,
which will allow the perfection of the water filters to continue while
biomass briquettes are developed. Only by paying attention to the
local circumstances and remaining flexible was KCP able to adapt to
best serve Kenya.
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Technology For
And By Kenya
KCP aims to not simply install externally-developed
ideas, but to
instead have innovative and helpful technologies adapted for and
adopted by Kenya. Nearby help has been employed in all manners. A
pilot factory, storage and drying area, and kiln have been constructed
by local builders in Kabula for briquette and water filter production.
The site has a gate with road access and the potential for expansion.
Waste material ('bagasse') from the locally-abundant sugarcane has
been provided by the Mumias Sugar Company as the key ingredient in
ceramic water filters, which have shown in prototypes to completely
eliminate bacteria. (In other areas of East Africa, sawdust, wheat
waste, or grasses may be more appropriate.) A local potter, Musa
Omumia, has been employed to help produce stoves and water filters.
Funding from KCP has allowed him to build a new workshop and a kiln dedicated
to stove production in Ekero, where he lives and works with a local women's
group.
UNICEF, whose mandate includes clean water access, is interested in facilitating the expansion and proliferation of KCP water filters. The Uganda Gender Rights Foundation has demonstrated that fuel production from local materials can be successfully taught to small women's and community groups for their own use and income. In the same way, manufacturing water filters and higher-efficiency stoves can and will be taught to Kenyans so they may reap all the benefits of their production sustainably. Innovative KCP technologies are purposely simple and inexpensive; their health, financial, and environmental benefits are not to be merely donated, but shared.
Ellison Richmond has recently returned to Kenya after avoiding trouble by visiting the Uganda Gender Rights Foundation. He hopes for peace and stability in Kenya and urges patience and understanding from all sides.