Several years ago, while still in school, I found a small set of tables in the rear lobby of a hotel in downtown Baltimore. It was during an annual national traveling ceramics conference (NCECA), and I was making my rounds ’round the city soaking in the atmosphere. The unassuming collection of tables offered ceramic wares produced by a community in Nicaragua to raise money for a US-based non-profit. The organization was Potters For Peace, a group providing sustainably responsible business tools and support through the ceramic arts. I purchased a piece as a gift for Mary Laurel, which she still has and is now sitting in our living room 5 years later.
The biggest success of Potters For Peace might be the development of a low-cost, locally produced Ceramic Water Purifier. It’s a low-tech, non-proprietary design (anyone can have access to the plans) being taught to rural communities around the globe. Ceramic drip filters were used in relief efforts after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunamis. This is not only providing clean and potable water, (removing some “99.88% of most water-borne disease agents”) but the manufacture of the filters provides these rural populations with a sustainable business.
Lab and field tests have been carried out by MIT, Tulane U, and the Universities of Colorado and North Carolina. Organizations like the Red Cross, UNICEF, and Doctors Without Boarders have distributed these filters worldwide.
This organization has been on my mind off-and-on since stumbling upon them years ago. Life hasn’t afforded me the time to participate in one of their “Brigades”, so I’m trying another route. I’ve gotten in touch with PfP and will be donating a modest percentage of all my Etsy sales to them, hoping that even a little will go a long way.
If you missed the link before, the website is www.pottersforpeace.org. Also check out Goods for the Garden, who donate a far more impressive amount than I to the cause.
A photo of Mary Laurel’s pot in our living room.
