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COLUMBIA

ZANZIBAR POTTERY PROJECT. 211 2s

‘There were coral-sand beaches, palm forests, handsome and friendly
people, colourful markets. What is missing from this picture? Pottery!

That was the reaction from my partner, Horseshoe Bay potter
Ronda Green, when we visited Zanzibar for the first time in 2003, as
tourists exploring the African continent. Ronda’s observation was the
seed of an idea: to give local people, most of whom are very poor, the
skills to make pottery to sell to tourists, who are coming in growing
numbers to this little-known but beautiful tropical island. Today, five
years and three visits later, the seeds of a pottery industry have been
planted in Jambiani, a fishing community on the east coast of the
Island of Zanzibar. Clay is being dug, a workshop for teaching and
production is operating, and ceramic fish are on sale in shops in Stone
Town, the port and urban hub of Zanzibar.

Zanzibar is barely 100 kilometres long, nestled a few degrees south
of the equator on the east coast of Africa, home to a million devout
but moderate Muslims. The mainstays of the economy are fishing
and agriculture, trade (Zanzibar was once the centre of world trade
in spices and slaves) and, now, tourism. The water is warm and the
summer interrupted only by brief monsoons in November and April/
May.

We returned in 2005, having tracked down two Canadians from
Victoria who volunteered in Jambiani, setting up a tourism training
centre and a wellness centre. Among their patients were women who
worked at low tide picking seaweed—hard labour yielding only a few
dollars a month—and who often suffered from back problems. Pat
and Alistair encouraged us to come, and gave us valuable introductions
and advice.

We rented a new but unfurnished house from a Danish family and
set up camp. Clay? We had heard there was clay on the island. We
bought rickety bikes and explored. Soon we had three or four sources
and it was obvious there were lots more clay deposits. One source had
a lovely, clean, plastic clay that is easy to work and fires a gorgeous
rust red, A studio? Ronda knew what to do. We collected and cleaned
rags from the beach, scavenged bits of metal, wood and glass for tools,
bought some plastic buckets that had originally contained cooking oil,
and spread out on the Danes’ wide front porch, which came to look a
bit like a tinkers’ camp.

Students? The children were always at our gate looking in. Most
of them lived in a fishing village next door, a faded group of thatched
houses with a couple of boats made from dug-out mango trees. Ronda
would invite the kids in to play. Soon there would be a dozen or more
happily shaping clay. Older siblings would turn up. Then some of the
moms. Two men who operated a part-time beach-shack restaurant
came, and then kept coming back to learn and study.

And a kiln? Ronda started by building a raku kiln. We searched
out a used oil barrel which we had a guy cut and then we lined it with
Fibrefax (spun silica) that we had with us. We also brought a propane
burner and some glazes. Ronda worked out how to bisque fire without
a pyrometer and then did raku firings. There were challenges: adapting
the hardware to butane, dealing with the strong prevailing winds, even
finding the barrel! Ronda began experimenting with pit fires, burning
tree scraps and litter, which was easier and arguably more authentic.

‘The project has evolved over our three working visits (the latest in
March to May of 2008.) On the second visit, a small Italian NGO

Left to right: Sida, Asha, and (in background) Mtumwa.

working got interested in us. They helped us reach a wider range of
women and agreed to pay the two men to move the studio to their
house and teach the women while we were gone. By the time we got
back this year, the group was firing with coconut husks, which they
use to build intense, fast fires stoked by the strong winds. The pottery
emerges very hot and some of the carbon burns off in the air, creating
elegant red and black surfaces.

‘The main product for now is ceramic fish. For the women, it was
a thrill to see their work in high-end souvenir shops. They were also
thrilled to be able to make dollars a day compared to dollars a month.
‘The women are now an independent group, with their own executive,
and they are learning accounting and marketing, taking advantage of
our friends’ tourism training centre. The two men continue to help but
also plan to strike out on their own. Ronda continues to experiment
with products and techniques. Maybe other Canadian potters would
like to help out with this ongoing project. For more information, see
the project website: http://members.shaw.ca/biskelion/zanzibar/

Earthenware fish, still hot from the coconut-husk firing.

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - July/August 2008