Week 2 Part 3: Oh the Tangled Web We Weave…

Rice baskets ready to boil for dinner

I glanced out our kitchen window as I placed the clean and dripping dishes on the table to dry. Our host Papa walked up with his woven basket tucked under his arm and a procession of young men carrying giant coconut fronds and a gaggle of other family and friends from the village trailing behind him. “Mi kam long lainim yu olsem wanem yu wokim mat (I’ve come to teach you how to make a mat),”  he called up as he waved directions to the young men to lay down the coconut fronds. “Mipela bai kam (we’ll come),” I replied as I hastily dried my hands on a towel and poked my head into the next room of our house. April was working on an assignment as I let her know that Papa had arrived to teach us to weave mats. We joined Papa below, and he set to teaching us how to weave a young coconut frond with an older branch to get a woven mat of two colors.

Was Papa and me with the finished mat!

He patiently helped us work the unruly leaves into an intricate pattern and soon other family members were joining in – holding things, giving advice and straightening out mistakes. After a while, I looked up and realized that April and I were the center of attention as our village family looked on in curiosity and amusement as we tried to wrestle the coconut leaves into submission. Most young people learn to weave mats, fire fans and rice baskets (baskets made of coconut leaves that can be filled with rice and meat and cooked as an eat-on-the-go meal) as young children. Although we looked rather comical as we worked on our mats, we persevered and finally stood beaming next to Papa with our finished products so we could pose for a picture. I came to really love the ingenuity of our village family and all the things they were able to make with the plants and natural materials surrounding them. What a neat privilege to be able to learn so much from our wonderful family.