Hand Made Paper

As well as viewing cashew trees, we stopped by the small store of a hand paper maker, which Czarina Lim had suggested I go see. This woman had been taught this skill by a local doctor who had passed it along in the interest of seeing local barangay women develop abilities which would assist their ability to bring in a greater income. The paper is made by boiling down 10 kg of Kogan Grass (at a time) and adding water and baking soda. It is then pressed down into screened trays, and later dried in the sun. This process yields approximately 50 sheets of paper, which she makes in a variety of fine to course textures. She sells each sheet for 8 pesos (less than two Canadian cents) and only sells them upon special occasions such as weddings, in her own barangay, and does not have the capital or marketing help to sell it anywhere else.

She also makes beautiful fans made of this paper, with dried flowers pressed onto the outside in decorative patterns. A fine art or paper store in Manila or even Vancouver would probably sell paper like this for several dollars a sheet, never mind cents. Unfortunately again, what is really desperately needed here is marketing. Micro loans and government assistance are possible, but someone needs to be connecting people like this with places that would attract the right customers. (see more photos)