A Glenmoore potter has found a way to combine his love of ceramics with his passion to help people in third-world countries.
Clay For Water was created by Corey Johnson of CJ Pottery to raise awareness of and money for clean water access in developing countries like Nicaragua.
“We are all about educating people on both sides of the spectrum – people who have more than they know how to deal with, and people who have next to nothing,” Johnson said in a telephone interview.
He returned June 18 from a month-long trip to Nicaragua, where he worked in a factory making ceramic water filters used to purify drinking water. It was his second trip in as many years to the country, and the extreme poverty and water crisis he encountered reinforced his mission to make a difference.
Johnson’s journey began with an epiphany he had while attending West Chester University full-time and working at UPS in the mornings. He had been going to school to be a potter but wasn’t sure what to make of his degree.
But he knew he wanted to do something with ceramics to help people in third-world countries.
It wasn’t until he attended a conference for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in Houston three years ago that he found that “something.”
He came across an organization called Potters For Peace, a nonprofit organization that works with potters overseas and also helps build ceramic water filter production factories in third-world countries and around the world.
“I was just feeling this huge push to go,” Johnson said, adding that he couldn’t stop thinking about their mission. The trip would cost $1,800 for two weeks, and he turned to a Kickstarter campaign – Kickstarter is an online, creative project funding platform, according to its Web site – to raise the money.
He was, he said, amazed by the power of social media. “I put this video out, and I got $3,600 within six hours on the first day,” he said. “I was not expecting this at all.”
Johnson’s first trip to Nicaragua was an impactful one.
“It rocked me,” he said. “When you see people living in poverty, when you’re with them, and there’s extreme poverty for miles and miles … it took me back.”
He helped build a pottery studio and taught the people there how to make pottery.
His second trip, from which he just returned, was solo. He called it a “revelation” to go by himself, adding that he didn’t speak the language but that he immersed himself in the culture. And he learned that language is not a barrier to developing friendships.
Since his return, Johnson has carried one of the ceramic water filters with him. It looks like a flower pot and serves as a conversation starter and an educational piece. The filters are composed of 70 percent clay and 30 percent sawdust, fired at 800 degrees Celsius and brushed with a mixture of colloidal silver and water.
“It filters out 99 percent of pathogens and does one to three liters of water an hour,” Johnson said. For developing countries or countries without access to clean drinking water, the filters can make a huge difference. “What’s so great about the filter is it’s super cheap, sustainable and accessible. The only thing you have to import is the silver. Clay is all over the world; so is sawdust. That’s the beautiful thing about it.”
Clay For Water, which recently launched, is Johnson’s way to give back to the world and make a difference. He and Elizabeth Fedora, a fellow Downingtown West High School graduate, have worked together to make the organization a reality.
“We’re hoping this has huge possibilities and potential for growth,” he said.
Educating the public about the world’s water crisis is a main focus of the for-profit social enterprise. Another goal is raising money to provide ceramic water filters for places in need.
The three main tenets of Clay For Water are education, empowerment and sustainability, according to Johnson.
He is hoping Clay For Water can host events, both locally and nationally, as a way to connect with the communities. A goal is for the organization to partner with ceramic potters that Johnson has met and bring more attention to the global water crisis and ways to combat it.
At the beginning of July, Johnson flew to Los Angeles to shoot a promotional video about Clay For Water, thanks to help from other Downingtown West graduates. The shoot was planned for July 3, the day before Johnson’s 26th birthday.
“We are using our power and skills to start something together,” he said.
The video is expected to be released later this month.
To learn more about Clay For Water, visit its Facebook page or clayforwater.org.
For more information about Corey Johnson, visit his web site at www.cjpottery.com, or his pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
