February – March 2008
On Sabbatical in the Spring of 2008, I worked as a volunteer with a papermaking project at Aba House, in Nungua Ghana, about a half hour ride by tro-tro to Accra, the Capitol.
My job was to create a paper from a local plant to be used in the books the children were making. These books and other paper objects are sold, and the proceeds are used to purchase school supplies and shoes for the children who participate in this project at Aba House. The area is very impoverished. Many of these children and their families live as squatters in partially built but abandoned houses nearby – no plumbing or electricity – just a shell with a roof.
Paper or Plastic #2
Paper or Plastic #2 – detail, Flower petals stitched inside abaca paper, plastic bag weaving
After trying a variety of plants, the most successful was Sugar Cane – and it grew right in the backyard! So the children and I spent our days cutting, preparing, cooking and pounding the plant material. Then we pulled many sheets of paper, which would later be bound into books.
WATER was a HUGE issue. Water was delivered to the community only ONCE A WEEK through a spigot in the ground. During my visit, the water delivery system broke down – NO DELIVERY for 4 weeks! In addition to the severe hardship to the community, we had to rinse cooked fiber in the ocean’s salt water for lack of fresh! Papermaking uses a LOT of water to clean and rinse fiber!
Daily, after work, I would walk down the path into town amidst piles of trash and plastic bags along the roadways, filling the little streams that crossed town, clogging all the open sewers, and covering every vacant lot in sight. The visual impact was overwhelming – made even more so by the intense and relentless heat and humidity. One day I saw 3 kenté cloth weavers working in one of these plastic littered fields. It took my breath away!
My papermaking experience in Nungua gave a whole new spin to the familiar supermarket question back home…
“Paper or Plastic?”