Felomena Adiwang makes hotmats, coasters and other products from recycled newspaper at a workshop of the Women's Multipurpose Cooperative in Baguio City, Philippines.

Felomena starts by wrapping strips of newspaper around a single bristle from a broom. After wrapping the paper, Felomena coils it into a spiraled building block and secures the coil with starch. Then she joins the building blocks with thread and glue to make the final product. Finally, she uses starch to harden the paper and add shine.

In addition to earning a fair income for her work, Felomena enjoys the community spirit of the workshop, especially the help she received to rebuild her home after it burned down a few years ago.

Baskets from Uganda
Uganda is a country of more than 20 million people trying to recover from years of civil war and oppressive leadership. Women there live amidst some of the worst poverty in the world, and, for some, basket making is their most marketable skill. Some of these artisans are widows due to war or their husbands dying of AIDS.

In making these baskets, the interior fiber forming the core of each coil is banana fiber, around which raffia palm is wrapped. With each wrapping, the fiber is threaded through the previous coil to form the basket. These artisans have worked hard to incorporate new designs into their traditional craft, to appeal to the North American market. 

Glass Jewelry from Chile
Jessica Palacio and Carlos Guerrero taught themselves how to make glass jewelry and then started the “Oh What a Moon” jewelry workshop in Limache, Chile. Employees report that the great working environment in the workshop is one of the advantages of working with Carlos and Jessica. “Oh What a Moon” has experienced more stability in their orders since they started selling their products to the fair trade market. They buy the glass from a Chilean glass producer and then cut it into the desired shapes. The women in the workshop then paint it with special enamel pigments. They can also add in a product, CMC, that reacts with the temperature of the kiln to produce bubbles between the two layers of glass. The pieces are left in a kiln for 30 minutes to an hour. Once they have cooled, the glass products are coated with a reinforcing agent. 

Recycled Silk from Nepal
Women in Nepal often have no control over their families’ finances and are not encouraged to work outside the home. Paru Sherpa learned the importance of economic independence when her mother-in-law lost her husband in an accident and had three small children to raise. Luckily, Paru’s mother-in-law had created her own small knitting business, and that income became vital once her husband died.

Motivated by her mother-in-law’s example, Paru decided to start her own business using colorful recycled sari yarn to make scarves, hats and other items. Her business quickly grew, and now she works with 50 other women to knit recycled silk products. Paru sells these items through Ganesh Himal Trading, which supports small cottage industries in Nepal, including development projects working to improve the lives of Tibetan refugees and women.