Part of my job at the paper store that is thus far nameless is lecturing at local art colleges. It's part outreach, part "get 'em while they're young" marketing and in part I can't say no to teachers- they are such cool people.
Inevitably its a night class and there are 20 or 30 fresh 19 and 20 somethings clutching at Starbuck's cups and consciousness- at least until I start talking, then they can nap. Or so they think, for they are about to get my 30 minute history of paper lecture. It starts "In the beginning, there were rocks, and they were hard, and writing a letter was a bitch." This wakes them up, a little. It will take more than profanity to hold this group's attention. But I move them through- getting them to write on papyrus (the dark papyrus tend to smell a bit like a diaper pail, always popular) talking about how parchment comes from animal skins- and how inconvenient that was- especially for the goat, who was using that particular bit of skin to hold body and soul together, thank you very much. I have brought tapa cloth, a paper from Indonesia which can be as big as a 6 x 9 rug, and take a village a week to make and are used for everything from bridal wear to burial cloth. Then about the up-side of the black plague, great for the rag trade and the production of lots of inexpensive linen and cotton papers. Throughout I encourage them to touch, tear, and smell the papers. Because towards the end I hand them a half dozen sheets of paper and say "OK- what is this made of?" The papers vary in color and weight- some tissuey and pale orange, oatmeal colored or grainy with bits of flowers, grass and what looks like...hair in it. They all are awake now- touching, tearing and in some brave cases even nibbling at a corner. Plants? they ask- "Yes- But HOW is it made?" More murmuring and tearing and if I am patient enough a little voice from some far corner, the most innocent little voice will pipe up- "Is it...shit?"
And it is. A line of paper made of dung from giraffe zebra and elephants from a company called Eco-Africa: http://ecoafrica-usa.net
From their website:
In Zimbabwe the availability of forest-based raw materials is reducing. The availability of energy and capital - as inputs for industry - is limited. Therefore, the ecological handmade paper industry offers a considerable potential to meet the increasing demand for paper products in an environmentally friendly way. Exclusively non-forest inputs are used in the production of ecological handmade paper. The production can be organized in decentralized small scale units, offering employment opportunities throughout the country..
But what was more touching were the words from one of the women who work there
It all started (in 2001) with 50 ladies and believe me in March 2004 Eco Africa project had about 200 ladies all being able to walk home with something at the end of every week and all being able to have food on the table. With all the efforts being put by these lovely ladies we hope that our customers will be able to grow interest in the products so as to keep this project running. As we all hope that the products will still be on demand we keep our fingers crossed so that you may keep on buying our product so that our hopes for a better future will not cease. Surely Eco Africa is a big company with you as part of it that is through your contribution is in buying the product. Your support counts in so many ways because in buying the products it will keep us busy as well as going on and on. We keep on praying that this project will go on and on and that we will never go back to the bad olden days when ladies would be victimized because they used to stay at home doing nothing only to watch their children suffering from hunger.
Incredible. And the best news is that the company became so successful that they were bought in 2005 by Provo-Craft, the largest crafts supply company in the US. The money from the buy-out has funded many more projects benefitting the community and insures that they will be able to continue making their wonderful papers and feeding their families.
In case you wondered this is how the paper gets made (from http://www.poopoopaper.com)
The making of paper starts with the collection and processing of the dung pulp. elephant dung is typically full of short to medium grained fibrous materials from the elephants diet which when processed makes excellent paper:
• We collect naturally dried elephant dung from elephant conservation parks and bring it back to our paper-making factory.
• We then pre-rinse the elephant dung with water, leaving only the fibrous materials from the grasses, bamboo & fruits they've eaten.
• Afterwards, we place the fibers into a giant pot of boiling water to ensure the fibers are super clean. After this thorough cleaning, any color that we may want to add can be added.
• Natural fibers from banana trees & pineapples are added to the dung mixture so the paper will be thicker & stronger.
• Once this is all mixed together, we separate the moist fibers into small “cakes' or “wafers” of about 300-400 grams each.
• The cakes are spread evenly over a mesh-bottomed tray measuring about 60cm by 90cm.
• The tray is leaned up against a tree, angled toward the sun and allowed to dry naturally for a few hours.
• Once dry, we peel the sheet of paper from the mesh tray and start making Poo Poo Paper products.
It doesn't have any smell. It's very green and by that I mean eco-friendly as well as occasionally grassy. And it's helping people to live. That's some pretty cool...manure.
:) X
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