Making gift bags from lokta paper

The women here in Nangi make this beautiful paper using a local plant called lokta.  They make it in sheets.  They dry out the plant, and then they cook it so that it softens into a pulp.  Then they pour the pulp onto screens and set them in the sun to dry.  They can also add coloring to the pulp to make different color paper. 

The women make this paper and then sell it as a way to earn money, both for themselves and for the school.  Last year we brought home some sheets of the paper and tried to figure out what to do with it.  Jessica came up with a way to make gift bags out of the paper.  She made some sample ones in Singapore, and then when we got to Nangi, we talked to the women about learning to make the bags so that we can try to sell the bags and make more money for the school.

So Jessica has spent the past two days teaching the women how to make the bags and sitting with them while they all make them together.  It has been an exercise in learning how to communicate without speaking the same language.

This is the pulp before it gets poured into the screens:

Here's one of the women getting the pulp ready:

Here's the pulp after it has been poured into the screens.  They set it out like this to dry (that's the school in the background):

This is Jessica teaching them how to make the bags yesterday.  Today there were even more women in the room learning how to make the bags.  They learn quickly, though, and they've made some really nice ones so far.  It was cute this morning because one of the women actually came and got Jessica so that she could help/teach them.

I have a few videos that show them making the paper and making the bags, but I'm having a hard time uploading them because it is taking forever.  I'm just going to post this and then I'll add the videos if I ever get them to upload.

We are headed down to Muti's house to pick some potatoes for lunch...