THE PAPER MAKING PROJECT
SUPPORTING RURAL COMMUNITIES
Pure Fiji initiated the handmade paper project in Fiji to provide an income to villagers in isolated regions. Beautiful handmade paper is made from cellulose found in plant fibre, which is literally beaten to a pulp and dispersed in water. This fibre, the main ingredient of paper, is sourced in different forms from bark, leaf, and grass of local plants and trees. Pure Fiji uses the paper for packaging soaps and in the production of exquisite stationery items.
Pure Fiji’s paper-making project is almost entirely run by the women of these rural communities, empowering them in ways they have never experienced before.
Along with training in paper making, we provide these women with some basic, essential business training. The women then took it upon themselves to organise production shifts so that while one group made paper they knew that their children, homes, and gardens were being taken care of.
Today, paper making is the major income earner for the village. With the income earned the village has been able to expand their paper-making facilities with a new drying house and generator, and create an ongoing fund for improving the equipment used in making paper.
Now the papermakers can also afford school fees and have made improvements to the local primary school. Additional classrooms and a library have been built for a secondary school - which means 150 children from the paper-making village and neighbouring villages have access to higher education.
Perhaps the greatest long-term goal the paper-making community has recently achieved is the building and setting up of a village store. This is complete with a refrigerator and deep freezer that are powered by a generator also purchased by the women. The store brings in additional income from trade with surrounding villages and the benefit of being able to preserve meat and other produce.
HAND MADE PAPER PRODUCTS BY PURE FIJI
