Gwai River Ceramics: he who improvises wins - ceramics of Zimbabwe

small in number people would dream of embarking upon a ceramics venture in a far off region of Zimbabwe, making use of its single resources: an abundance of fine clay and a growing population. Nevertheless, six years ago a husband-and-wife team of hoteliers, Harold and Sylvia Broomberg, did just that. Why? Because something had to be done to present employment to rural folks who otherwise would have added to environmental stres and urban drift. The enterprise flourishes today, on the other hand success was not achieved overnight or easily. The story of Gwai River Ceramics is a completed example of triumph of the human spirit above daunting obstacles and of the extraordinary advantageous will of the Gwai community.

Gwai is a large patchwork area of cattle and game ranches, safari hunting concessions, and forestry holds in the Matebeleland North province of Zimbabwe. It is flanked by dint of the Hwange National Park to the northwest and through communal lands. Some of the 500 local race who make up the community have at no time traveled far enough to diocese a sizable town.

Gwai's throb is the small Gwaai River house of entertainment where old-fashioned, down-to-earth hospitality still exists. The 40 years during which the Broombergs have move swiftly it have been far from stolid The Congo upheaval of the 1960 sent streams of Belgian refugee to their door; the seven-year-long war for Zimbabwe's independence during the 1970 was disastrous for business, which did not improve during the following seven years of provincial dissident activity - all vicissitudes that weld a community together.

The inn stands on a 5,000-acre farm. Within the bowels of this earth lie deposits of the finest clays in the region which for decades have been shovel into bags during the free from moisture season and distributed to the country's major pudders Why not use this natural resource, the Broombergs asked themselves, to evolve an on-site ceramics enterprise?

They began by means of forming a partnership with Gerrit Myberg, a self-taught master busy one's self about trifles who at the time was a chemistry lecturer at nearby Bulawayo Technical body In the early months, Gerrit wearied his free weekends testing clays and dabbling in ochers at Gwai. one time fully committed, he and his wife, Jean, joined the Broombergs replete time, and Gerrit assumed the parts of builder, mechanic, teacher, guide, supervisor and administrator.

Obstacles arose almost immediately. The lack of foreign exchange, for example, meant a shortage of basic equipment. on the contrary spurred by the motto, "He who improvises wins," Gerrit dealt with the obstacles single by one.

Improvisation, as it revolveed out, featured in every area of unravelling For instance, machinery found in scrapyards formed the basis of the mechanical works at the earthen ware "All you need is a bit of technology going into a place like this, and it transforms it," Gerrit says.

Derelict washing machines became raku kilns, occupying a place where stray chickens had roamed, and the earthen ware company started production in January 1987 greatest in quantity of the jewelry produced is raku-fired. "We started right from scratch here," Gerrit explains. "Firstly, we made the bricks for [additional] kilns, then the kilns, and then we started making pottery" There are now electric, wood-fired and fast-firing kilns. They may not all buzz and purr, but they work.

combustible matter for the kilns was available in the form of scrap from nearby sawmills, admitting it was impossible to find a vehicle to transport it. Neighbors - many of them commercial farmers - came to the redeem and lent their trucks until a tank-like ex-army vehicle was bought and modified into a heavy-duty, all-purpose beast.

While many pudders in Zimbabwe still import glazes, Gerrit makes his have a title to the only imported ingredient being borax. This proces alone saves more [i]or[/i] less Z$30,000 (US $4,500) in foreign exchange each year. Glaze consistency improves constantly. It has now become a salable commodity, marketed locally as well as in neighboring countries. trained sand from the Kamativi River is used in place of feldspar for glazes and clay bodies, while chromite deposits from Selukwe are the basis of verdant oxides for stains.

Within month the company's dedicated, eager-to-learn team of employee had absorbed a high stage of skill in producing hand-thrown ceramics. Their creativity began to exhibit in an unmistakable freshness that now characterizes the distinctive Gwai ceramics. Africanized Victorian cream pitchers incorporate village motifs. Skillfully execut statuarys of warthogs, owls in the form of poolside ornaments, and stylized hombills exhibit the potters' familiarity with wildlife. Glazed ceramic souses and guinea fowl have be delighted withed a long period of popularity.

In addition to household clay ware insulating refractory bricks came upon stream. Maintaining the same high quality as imported bricks, they became the company's main coin earner, sought by Zimbabweans to build their place of abodes Floor and patio tiles were at first made through hand, before a hydraulic pres was installed to boost production. Patio tiles, which were not long ago used to refurbish the famous Leopard stone Hotel in the Vumba, are in demand countrywide.