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Papermaking in Malawi, Africa

Making paper products from recycled materials is environmentally friendly and provides business opportunities to the community. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Susan Ross tells about her visit to the Paper Making Education Trust (PAMET) in Malawi, Africa. After visiting this site you should have a basic understanding of how to make paper and have learned more about the country of Malawi, Africa.
Pamet, Blantyre Malawi. Paper Making Education Trust. Makers of Handmade Environmental Friendly Paper Products. Stationery, Photo albums, Hardcover books, Greeting cards, World map Globes, and many more … Recycled paper is collected and stored prior to being made into homemade paper products. Enuk served as a The ground up paper is soaked to prepare in for production. A press is used to remove excess water from the paper. This is necessary to make the paper easier to shape into sheets. Pressing also helps the paper fibers interlock and results in stronger paper. Using molds, the paper is shaped into larger sheets. You can see sheets of paper hanging overhead in the picture.
Once dry, the sheets of paper are extracted from molds. Here a staff member removes the handmade paper from the mold. Paper is then hung to dry. You can see the large sheets of paper hanging from the ceiling. Once dry, it is taken down. Here Enuk and another staff member check the quality of the handmade paper and make sure it is completely dry. A staff member carefully removes the dry paper from the cloth. At this point the paper is then made into items such as paper envelopes, stationary, and paper cards.
Envelopes are assembled and ready for use. The paper envelopes shown here are durable and sturdy. Paper is then folded to various sizes. The stacks of paper on the desk are now ready to be sold. Paper can be used for a number of products other than envelopes and cards. Here the handmade paper is being used to make a hard cover book. Finally the finished products are checked one last time before going to market. The process of making paper is complete.
After you've seen how paper is made be sure to visit the Paper Making Educational Trust featured here to learn more about the excellent work they are doing. If you'd like to try making paper yourself, visit the How to Make Paper Flickr webpage for a detailed photo tutorial.  

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