At Rutgers University and at Dieu Donné Papermill, we have been asked to consult on several international hand papermaking projects. Recently, Dieu Donné assisted artist Laura Anderson Barbata in developing indigenous fibers for handmade paper with the Yanomami people in the Venezuelan rain forest; consulted for the Kumarappa Paper Institute in Jaipur, India, on adapting Japanese papermaking techniques to process and form handmade papers from indigenous fibers; and helped consultant Docey Lewis design converted paper products for an exploratory development project in the West Bank. At Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper (RCIPP), Deery is currently consulting on paper art collaborations with the Artist Proof Studio in South Africa, hosting several exchange programs with their staff. Next year, RCIPP will send a papermaker to test indigenous fibers and equipment for the newly developed paper studio at Artist Proof. RCIPP was also involved in the initial consultancy stages of a papermaking project proposed for Guatemala, addressing social and economic development issues, and a recycled papermaking project to provide discretionary income to purchase medical services for women and children in rural areas of Peru. In 1994, we were contacted by Tom Horton, founding director of Sustainable Technologies, to consult on a new papermaking initiative that he was developing in Ecuador. Around this time, ecologically-based business ventures were booming, and Horton was developing a number of projects integrating business, environmental sustainability, and technology in South America. One of the technologies Horton developed was an ecologically sound method for converting agricultural waste into paper fiber. In 1993 Horton began working in the coastal areas of Ecuador, converting waste from the banana industry into papermaking pulp. In researching other indigenous papermaking fibers for this treatment, Horton identified cabuya. Cabuya, also known as sisal, is native to the Andes and has been cultivated for centuries in Ecuador, primarily for use in making coffee and cocoa sacks and rope. More recently it has been used to make carpets and for commercial handicraft. The price of cabuya began to drop steadily in the 1960s as plastic coffee bean sacks took the place of the natural cabuya bags. This change and competition from more industrialized countries able to produce natural-fiber products at lower prices left Ecuadorian cabuya farmers with an abundant amount of fiber and a depressed market. The communities and people planting the crop were devastated. CARE Ecuador responded to this problem through Sustainable Uses for Biological Resources (SUBIR), a project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), that seeks to link the conservation of biologically critical ecosystems with the economic well-being of the local inhabitants. Horton, in partnership with SUBIR, recognized the potential of papermaking as a replacement industry for the cabuya farming communities.
CARE Ecuador's Dr. Jody Stallings, coordinator of SUBIR, worked with Horton to identify specific communities they thought would be best suited to have a cabuya pulping facility and hand papermaking workshop. Several communities in the buffer zone surrounding the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve in the northwestern cloud-forest region of Ecuador were selected as the key project sites.
Horton envisioned an enterprise that would not only provide economic benefit to these communities but also introduce technology to reverse the negative environmental effects of the traditional extraction of fiber from the cabuya plant. Harvested by hand from the terraced fields, cabuya is manually decorticated and cleaned in local streams. The alkalinity of the plant's effluent is believed to contaminate the waterways, threaten local fish, and degrade general water quality. Horton proposed a stabilizing system that would collect and neutralize the effluent, and convert it into organic fertilizer.
SUBIR shared Horton's vision to find an alternative and ecologically sustainable use for cabuya. Should the cabuya farmers decide to abandon their crops in search of new ways of supporting themselves, the buffer zone surrounding the important Cotacachi-Cayapas ecosystem would be threatened.
SUBIR and Horton together implemented a feasibility study for cabuya papermaking in 1994. Horton organized and led the team, which included Dr. Stallings; David O'Keefe, a soil scientist specializing in waste management; and Deery, a paper specialist and the manager of the Paper Department at RCIPP. On their first trip to Ecuador, the team met with leaders from the cabuya farming areas to propose a plan to convert cabuya fiber into pulp and handmade paper. The leaders then met with their communities to discuss the plan and subsequently voted in favor of participating in the construction, training, and initiation of such a business.
SUBIR and Horton together implemented a feasibility study for cabuya papermaking in 1994. Horton organized and led the team, which included Dr. Stallings; David O'Keefe, a soil scientist specializing in waste management; and Deery, a paper specialist and the manager of the Paper Department at RCIPP. On their first trip to Ecuador, the team met with leaders from the cabuya farming areas to propose a plan to convert cabuya fiber into pulp and handmade paper. The leaders then met with their communities to discuss the plan and subsequently voted in favor of participating in the construction, training, and initiation of such a business.
After the exploratory team left Ecuador the real work began. Elizabeth Rappe, then SUBIR's Communications and Training Specialist, became involved in the feasibility study and was later named director of the cabuya project. Without Rappe's constant dedication, this initiative would probably still be in the planning stages and might never have come to fruition. Both of us acted as long-distance consultants on various aspects of the project throughout its development, while the papermill was built with the hard work of all of the community members and Rappe's intuitive orchestration of the entire project.
Among our contributions, we participated in cabuya fiber processing tests and stateside organization of the training program. In the numerous tests run on cabuya at RCIPP and Dieu Donné Papermill, we found the raw fiber to be rather coarse and difficult to process using standard soda ash cooks and moderate beating in the Hollander. The resulting paper was beautiful, with natural flecks and debris, but seemed too soft. We knew that we needed to do more experiments to achieve a wider range of pulps and paper from the fiber.
To explore other pulping methods, we enlisted the help of Timothy Barrett at the University of Iowa Center for the Book. In March 1996, along with Rappe, we spent four days with Barrett and his assistant, Jana Pullman, at Iowa's Oakdale Paper Facility. We experimented with a variety of cooking and fermentation agents, including lime, lye, and synthetic enzymes. The laboratory facilities and the scientific and technical expertise provided by Barrett and Pullman helped us gain a greater understanding of the cabuya fiber and the range of pulps and paper that could be produced.
Encouraged by the results in Iowa, Rappe returned to Ecuador with a number of pulping experiments to undertake on-site, under local conditions and with available cooking agents. Using locally-produced lime, she tested a variety of fermentation soaks and cooks to produce diverse grades of pulps and papers.
During this time, Rappe completed the design and supervised the construction of the Cabuya Paper Workshop in Getsemaní, a remote village in the Cotacachi-Cayapas Reserve, where cabuya had been the main economic focus since the early 1950s. Apart from several Lee Scott McDonald student-grade moulds, the studio items�including moulds, vats, couching stands, felts, and other equipment�were all locally-made, based on equipment Rappe researched in the United States. The pulp processing facility was set up in Ibarra, an industrial town nearby, where a more dependable supply of electricity ensured adequate operation of the cooking units and the Hollander beater. Working with local engineers and mechanics, Rappe converted restaurant and agricultural equipment for pulping and papermaking. A ball mill originally used for salt-refining was adapted to break down the cabuya before a final, more precise beating in the Hollander. An outdoor drier for the pulp was adapted from the design of a solar drier for mushrooms, originally developed by another CARE worker.
After the facilities were completed, a training group of thirty-eight people from the three communities surrounding Getsemaní was selected. During a three-month period, seven trainers from the United States traveled to Getsemaní to instruct these trainees in all of the fundamentals of papermaking, including workshop management and production, quality control, and value-added product development. The trainers included Anderson, Eduardo Fausti, Helen Hiebert, Lynn Amlie, and Jeanne Jaffe. We conducted the final training session and assessed the program. During the entire training program, Rappe served as general coordinator and co-trainer.
To aid communication, a Spanish glossary of papermaking terminology was compiled and reviewed by both trainees and trainers. Two of our trainers were Spanish-speaking, which was extremely valuable. Most of the trainers relied heavily on Rappe for translations, but much information was also relayed visually. For example, Hiebert noted in her report, "I did a papermaking demo, deliberately making mistakes and asking the participants to critique me on, for instance, not stirring the vat, not shaking enough, shaking too much, [and] holding the mould uneven after pulling the sheet." The trainees were extraordinarily observant and conscientious about employing correct methods. In everything from determining sheet thickness at the vat to grading sheets using look-through and surface inspection, their visual comprehension and concentration were exceptional.
The training group was also very inventive and self-motivated. After viewing a videotape of production methods at other papermaking facilities around the world, they were eager to devise appropriate means for their workshop. They fashioned burnishing implements from plastic pipe; used a neoprene-like material they could buy locally as a substitute for linoleum printing blocks; and braided cabuya fiber into strong and beautiful bookbinding thread. As coloring agents for the paper, they experimented with achiote seeds (a common spice) and nogal (black walnut), both retrieved from their surroundings. They tinted food-grade gelatin (available in the local markets) with these coloring agents, then surface-sized the sheets to reduce the amount of agent needed to color their paper and to provide a protective surface for case papers for books.
After developing a wide range of papers�textweight, surface-sized and hand-burnished cover weight, colored sheets, and decorative papers�the group began to create value-added products, including multi-signature blank books, gift boxes and bags, and printed cards. As a final step in the training process, they tested their products in the local tourist markets. Experiencing first-hand the shop owner's positive responses served to motivate the trainees and demonstrated the importance of quality control and business skills.
After three intensive months of participatory training, the trainees were pulling first-rate sheets of paper, developing perfectionist skills in all areas of production, and making beautiful value-added products. Trainers stressed that different people are well suited for different tasks and emphasized the importance of each step in the papermaking and paper-converting process. The trainees had no tradition of making or using handmade paper and so were not attempting to emulate or surpass the accomplishments of the past. They were studying a new technology and learning an exceptional standard from the trainers. Emphasis was put on consistency in sheet quality; cleanliness of tools, equipment, and facility; and professionalism and respect for oneself as an artisan, as well as for others in the workplace.
Because the trainees came from three distinct communities with different social structures and cultural backgrounds, it was very important to give them a sense of co-ownership and to work through management issues that would be critical for the long-term viability of the project. During the training process, Amlie encouraged the trainees to work together for a common goal. She and Rappe made sure that papermaking teams of three (vatman, coucher, and layman) were made up of representatives of the different communities, age groups, and genders. Following completion of the papermaking training program, CARE Ecuador implemented a management training program to assist the group in establishing an organizational structure and to prepare the group for community ownership of the project. At the end of the program, the trainees chose the name "P.A.C.A." for their new organization. The acronym, which stands for "Papel Artesanal de Cabuya" (Handmade Cabuya Paper), is also a local term. As explained by Rappe, "Paca is used to describe the 100 pound bales of cabuya fiber. In essence the paca assured them, like money in their pockets, of food on their table. After sounding the name out loud a few times, one trainee commented: �I thought the paca no longer had value, but I think this new P.A.C.A. will bring us better days.'"
Two years later, P.A.C.A. now employs eleven people, directly supporting eleven families in the three communities and providing income to the cabuya farmers for their raw fiber. The papermakers produce seven thousand sheets per month as well as a range of value-added products. They are currently selling their products in Ecuador, where their unique qualities and their contribution to the conservation of the country's precious forests attract attention from consumers. Local sales of their items in tourist markets are sufficient to support eleven salaries, but they would like to increase sales to expand employment in the community. Obstacles in the domestic Ecuadorian market include a depressed economy and a lack of understanding by local consumers of the intrinsic value of handmade products. Promotional materials have been developed, including brochures and a videotape, and the national press has shown great interest in promoting P.A.C.A. and its products.
While they are strengthening domestic sales, P.A.C.A. is working with a marketing and business consultant and a sales agent to branch out into more diverse and perhaps more profitable international markets. Besides paper and value-added products, P.A.C.A. also plans on exporting semi-processed fiber and pulp to hand papermakers and the machine-made paper industry. Exporting pulp would drastically increase demand for the raw material. This plan could, in turn, directly benefit thousands of cabuya farmers.
To move P.A.C.A. from a fledgling community business into a successful and sustainable cottage industry, Fernando Darquea Negrete was hired by CARE Ecuador in September 1998. As Business Administrator, he is implementing a business plan to make P.A.C.A. financially independent from CARE Ecuador by the end of 1999. A successful Ecuadorian businessman with his own agricultural company, Darquea heard about the project and decided that "it was my opportunity to support the development of neglected areas in my country." His present goals are to increase production and sales and to work with the community to formalize the organizational structure when CARE Ecuador turns the project over. The cabuya farmers and the workshop artisans are preparing themselves to become independent owners of the project. Darquea and P.A.C.A. share a dream that "cabuya paper will be recognized as the official paper of Ecuador, much like papyrus is for Egypt."
During our involvement with the P.A.C.A. project, it became apparent that this particular project addressed a number of issues facing international papermaking efforts in general. In developing the P.A.C.A. project, SUBIR considered many concerns: the environmental impact of the activity; conservation of the ecologically important Cotacachi-Cayapas Reserve; the economic well-being of the area's inhabitants; the social and cultural balance of the community; the new application of existing raw materials; the development of appropriate technology, technical training, and product development; and selling the project and its products in the domestic and international marketplace. This project included the introduction of a new economic activity, the presence of international aid organizations, and collaboration between local communities and foreign consultants. Given the richness of the project's goals and solutions to many concerns, we realized that the P.A.C.A. Workshop could serve well as a model for others who are developing hand papermaking initiatives around the world.
To date, there has been little communication or common problem-solving among the many established papermaking projects like this one. For this growth industry, it is time to form a network to develop shared resources that will provide information to avoid common technical, cultural, environmental, and financial difficulties. We are now working with Crossing Over Consortium, a non-profit organization promoting exchange in the book and paper arts, to convene a meeting of international project representatives, papermaking consultants, equipment manufacturers, marketing and product development experts, environmental impact specialists, community development consultants, and representatives from international aid organizations and foundations. If our fund-raising efforts are successful, we hope to assemble participants in Imbabura, Ecuador, in 2000, to share case studies of international projects, conduct an on-site visit and study of the nearby P.A.C.A. Workshop, and to publish Hand Papermaking as a Micro-Enterprise Tool. This publication will include summaries of case studies, project assessment guidelines, and a directory of resource professionals that can be used in the development and evaluation of current and future hand papermaking projects.
As consultants in the establishment of the P.A.C.A. Workshop, we feel privileged and inspired to have worked with Horton, Barrett, Rappe and other CARE Ecuador staff, our team of trainers, and the warm and generous communities in and around Getsemaní in researching and developing cabuya paper as a feasible industry for the ecologically significant Cotacachi-Cayapas Reserve. We recognize the complexities of developing international papermaking initiatives and look forward to the chance to meet and publish our shared experiences in promoting hand papermaking as an invaluable art skill, and an environmentally non-intrusive and income-generating micro-industry.
The authors thank Elizabeth Rappe for all of her assistance with this article.
