This beautiful little doll is made from banana fibre. Bananas are a staple local crop consumed by most Ugandan (and other) households, so the dried leaves provide a freely available way of making toys. Its individuality makes it full of life and vitality.

This particular doll was made by one of the former members of the library staff, Olivia Goodrich.  She was working as a volunteer teacher at Kiziisi Hospital Primary School, Uganda in 2004. She made this during an art lesson with the children (see photo below). The children were told the previous day to gather banana fibre from the plantations near their homes. They were seen the following morning walking to school with carefully tied up bundles of fresh banana fibre (from the trunk of the banana tree). The only other equipment used was a very blunt knife to cut with!