Ceramic flowerpot filter saves lives

Sue Sprenkle

Reddish-brown water gurgles in the 5-gallon bucket. There’s no chance of seeing the bottom of the bucket through this muddy mess.

“That’s our drinking water. We get it from the river,” says Moses, a health care worker in a remote Kenyan village. “You want some?”

Before any polite objections can be made, Moses holds up a glass of water so sparkling clear you can see his smiling face through it.
This is the same water?

Moses vigorously nods his head “yes” and points to a second bucket labeled “Chujio,” which means sieve in Swahili. Fresh river sludge is poured into a ceramic flowerpot sitting inside another container. Amazingly, clean water trickles out.

The ceramic water filter strains out harmful bacteria and parasites that cause diarrhea, cholera and other waterborne diseases. It also filters dirt, odor and color from contaminated water.

“Since you brought the Chujio to us, the rate of diarrhea has gone down in our village,” Moses says, thanking Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist relief and development organization, for providing more than 300 filters for distribution. “Before, we drank straight from the river. It is very contaminated.”

According to the World Health Organization, diarrhea caused by drinking contaminated water results in 2.2 million deaths a year.

See  more on this story at AfricaStories.org.

Behind the Chujio ‘magic’
The miraculous transformation of river sludge into clean water starts in the back of a shop near Limuru, Kenya.

The month-long process to create the water filters is a labor of love for Kenyan potter Kamwana Wambugu and his family. Joy shines in his eyes as he dips his hand into a ceramic powder so fine it can be mistaken for flour.

“The filters require a fine powder mixed with saw dust. If it’s too big (coarse), all of the dirt and stuff will pass through,” he says. “The pots are also dipped into a colloidal silver mixture that kills any remaining bacteria.”

UNICEF and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) studies show that 99.9 percent of contaminants are filtered out through this process, leading to a 39 percent reduction in cases of diarrhea and curtailing deaths by 25 percent.

For just $25 a filter, a family can enjoy clean water for three years.

“We have taken it up as our duty to produce the best water filters we can,” Wambugu says, picking up a flowerpot. “It will turn dirty water into clean. It will save a life.”

See more on this story at AfricaStories.org.

Act

Provide a filter for a family without access to clean water:

  • Send a check to Baptist Global Response, 402 BNA Drive, Suite 411, Nashville, TN 37217 with “Water Fund” on the memo line.
  • Visit the “Giving” page at gobgr.org and note “water” in the comments section.

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Comments: Please share your thoughts and prayers

2 Responses to “Searching for water: long trek over”

1. Posted by Doug, September 12th, 2010

Thanks for the story. I will use it when my RA boys do their World Hunger study in October. Perhaps the funds we raise this year can go to provide another such well!

2. Posted by Crescent Baptist, March 15th, 2011

Our Vacation Bible School is going to use the Chujio as their mission focus this year (July 11, 2011 thru July 15, 2011. Our goal will be to provide Chujios for 20 families.

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