A Rose for Ron Rivera

This is a rose for Ron Rivera. Ron died unexpectedly at the very young age of 60, Wednesday night. Ron was the founder of Potters for Peace and was it's heart, soul and life force. Ron was one of the most amazing, vital and giving people who I have ever met. He profoundly changed the life of everyone who came into contact with him, even in the most trivial ways.

He was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in New York and spent most of his post-college life in Latin America helping the very poor in various ways. During the Nicaraguan Revolution, he went there to be a part of it. Afterward, he stayed on. Ron founded Potters for Peace to accompany local potters on their journey to support, feed and educate their families. Later he developed a very effective, low-cost ceramic filter that can be made with locally available technology in the third world. The filters are made out of clay. He was actively building more factories towards his eventual goal of 100. He had just completed his 30th factory and returned home when he was struck down by malaria.

I was fortunate to encounter Ron earlier this year on "brigade" to Nicaragua to learn about both the local potters, with whom we exchanged technology and shared pottery talk, and about the water filters. In those 16 days I learned more about myself and what I want to make of my life, than in the rest of my adult years. I can only say that I have thought of Ron everyday since, and thought about the high standard he set for living a life. I can only hope to measure up.

I will miss his zest, humor, guidance and compassion. The whole world is going to miss the same things.