Kazuri and Kamili

On the last day of orientation for new staff we went to two local artisans.

KAZURI BEADS is a factory which started in 1975 for the purpose of teaching two single moms a skill that would bring an income. Today the factory employs 340 disadvantaged women and markets its beautiful beads all over the world. The Swahili word Kazuri means “small and beautiful”.

We toured the factory to see the process of making the beads and had an opportunity to speak with some of the women working there. The clay comes from Mount Kenya and is “refined” by adding water to get the rocks out, then pressing the water out. The women then take the clay balls and form them by hand into tiny beads.

Our tour guide indicated that the system could be automated to form the beads and require only a few workers; but the purpose of Kazuri is employment and income for struggling families so it remains a labour intensive process by choice. Kazuri also makes pottery (plates, mugs, vases, bowls, etc).

After the pieces have been formed and dried, they are hand painted by another group of women, each with a “pattern” of colours. Some of the beads are incredibly small and the women need excellent dexterity to hold and paint each tiny piece.

The beads are then baked in an oven overnight to give them a shine. Because this part of the process is run by electricity it is sometimes interrupted by the rationing of power. That is, at least once a week the city turns off power to different parts of the city of Nairobi in order to conserve energy. People can be without power for 12 hours. When this happens the beads just get fired the next day.

When the beads are ready, another group of women arrange the beads (according to shape and colour) to form necklaces, earrings, chokers, bracelets.

We also went to a fabric manufacturing operation called KAMILI DESIGNS. It is a cottage industry down a narrow muddy road (similar to our cabin road!). They make wall hangings, pillow covers, oven mitts, aprons, curtains, bedspreads. Again, all of the work is done by hand, including the painting on each piece!