Weaving Papua New Guinea

This is a (slightly silly) introductory video I made with an old friend when we were in PNG a year ago. I edited this together in my cabin in Goroka to pitch a documentary to Australian Business Volunteers. No luck. They were 'restructuring' and couldn't commit. So now I wade through endless footage - enough to make a feature film. Any buyers?

I thought it overdue to share a tasty slice of my experience with you. For six weeks I worked with village weaving women. Virtually all women in PNG are weavers and for many, the sale of their weaved bilum bags is their sole income.

I was brought in to develop their weaving designs to appeal to an international market. We focused on the bilum bags and developed a collection.

Here are some of the women that made the collection...

I asked them 'what is your dream?' They had never been asked that before, some were stumped and I had to get them to imagine that they had a million dollars and the freedom to do whatever they wanted, and after some time, they whispered their dreams to another woman to translate to me. I think their humble wishes really put things in perspective.

                                                                                                               

	SANDY SASAE I am 38 years old with four children. I was fed sweet potato as a child and I still love to eat it! I enjoy working in my garden when I'm not weaving. My dream is to earn enough money from weaving so that I can provide for my children.
	ROSA TIM I am 35 years old and I have one child. I love to eat my home grown sweet potato and one day I hope to own a trade store in my village.
	NANCY JOE I live in the village. I love to weave. I eat from the garden and hope to one day be able to sell enough bilums to support my children.
	UPASI AMERI My favourite drink is Fanta! I am 36 and have two children. I enjoy weaving Bilums and hope one day to make enough money to support my children.
	SAINA TUPUNA I have five children. All I want is to earn enough money from my Bilum weaving to put all five through school and one day to own a motor vehicle.
	SENISI AIZAUWO I am a grandmother. My favourite weave designs are Zigzag and Box. I am learning to do Fork. I like to cook sweet potato and greens. I hope that all my children do well in life.
	JENNI I love  to eat sweet potato, cooked any way. I have two children and I am 33 years of age. My wish is to be wealthy so that I can pay for my children's school tuition.
	AIYOPE SETI I am 42 years old with five children. I love eating chicken twisties and weaving. I weave bilum bags for sale in the markets in Goroka. The money I make is used to support my children.
LYDIA SIOTAGAU My favourite colour is blue and I especially love eating pineapples. I am 22 years of age and have two children but one day I hope to be a truck owner and be able to transport passengers and vegetables to and from market.
	NANCY FIKE I have one child. I am 34 years old and love the colour black and eating peanuts. I dream to one day experience flying in a plane.
	ANGELA WESON I am very busy caring for my five children and weaving. I love to eat cooked banana, rice and coconut. One day I hope to earn enough money for my children to be educated and successful.
	GANUWO PERO I love to weave. I aim to be the best! I most enjoy weaving the 'heart' design. If I could have anything in the world, it would be a tradestore.
	HELA EASTERN My favourite foods are Kumu (greens) and fresh pineapple. I love the colour red and wish to one day be a professional dancer and travel the world.
	JOYCE I am 30 years of age and have one child. My dream is for my son to be successful in whatever career he chooses. The money I earn from weaving will go towards his education.

Here are the women and I with the bags and cushions from our collection.

My eyes still well up when I think of how much I miss them. However the experience of flying in a tiny rickety plane over the highlands stops me short of heading back to hang out.

Without phones, postal addresses or email I can't keep in touch. I'm going to print 20 copies of this photo above and send it to a business near the bilum markets and hope the women receive it.

In one of my alternative life scenarios I'd take this project on whole heartedly and make it happen for these women. They really need someone there on the ground to manage the sales and quality control.

6 weeks wasn't long enough...

[current mood] Wedding Canapes & Lionel Richie

Comments

[Christoph Sohn]

Enjoyed reading the post and had to watch the video again afterreading through it and getting to know the people a little bit more. Would have loved to hear more stories about your time there when we traveled. Hope there will be a longer film one day :)

[Natalija Brunovs]

Oh Christoph! So much to say in life and so little time (even though we had days together on the nullabor!) I'll put you down as a feature film sponsor. Hope you're happy with a $20,000 contribution. Cheers for that ;)
x

[Maitreya]

Hi, what a fantastic project. I'd love to find out more. Natalija, do you have a direct email or contact number (you can email me at gina.bloom@optusnet.com.au and I can contact you by email or phone). Kind regards, Maitreya