On Saturday, November 13, a group of us made test tiles from 8 different clay deposits around the area. We mixed the different clays with sifted sawdust and corn cobs as the burnout materials. The test tiles will help us determine which clay and burnout material will make the best ceramic water filters. We set the test tiles out in the sun to dry for a few days. We plan to fire them later in the week using the electric kiln Steve brought with him to Rwanda.
Ebele, our friend from Nigeria, arrived around 10:00. She came to Adamah in 2019 for the filter making course and has kept in contact over the last few years. She has come to help us build the kiln and learn about the filter production site.
In the afternoon, we returned to the filter production site to begin construction on the kiln. Edward, Ebele, Jennfier , Steve and Michael joined many people from the community to bring materials to the kiln site. We compacted the ground with sand and began to lay the foundation of the kiln.