For most of us, no matter where we live, a banana or plantain tree is always nearby. They are literally everywhere, and provide us with a multitude of benefits - from a quick and healthy snack, to leaves for our tamales, to a side dish for any meal.

But if you look deeper at the fiber of the tree itself, there might just be a purse, a lamp shade, or a 6 foot carpet, waiting to jump out at you.

A group in Unitedville has managed to harness the untapped potential of these trees by processing the fibers and handcrafting them into beautiful products.

It's created a livelihood for a number of families and is slowly changing the aesthetic of high end resorts and businesses. Jomarie Lanza stopped by today to see how it gets done.

Three years ago when the banana fiber braiding craze hit the market, the owners and the artisans wouldn't have dreamed that some of their wildest creations could be hanging from the ceilings of banks and resorts, or filling up the gift shops of hotels.

Their unique industry has grown and along with it so has the demand for handmade products, and the curiosity of students, artists and anyone with a desire to learn how to work with the banana fiber.

Jerri Dennis, Owner, Belize Banana Fibers "Yes it's been a while and we have done a lot since you were here. Oh my goodness we have added a new section back here for our workshop and that's where Chulin welds and we make all kinds of designs. We do new things all the time and we are adding. We are thankful and God has been good."

"We have schools coming and we teach for free. We show them what we do we show them the process here as we bring the stalks in and victor over there he splits the trees and we go from there showing the machines the whole process and even teach some roping if we have time."

The team here in Unitedville have hit some major milestones it's true, but with that comes the challenge of ensuring that there is sufficient product to keep up with the progress of this project.

Reporter:
"Have you been able to keep up with the demand and source enough material? I know you only have two machines and I know it probably requires a lot of banana trees and plants."

Humberto Chulin, Mechanical Engineer, Belize Banana Fibers
"That has been something a little bit hard right but sometimes when we are going into that we would go all up to mile 20 in the Pomona area where we can get until we can get over in this area."

"So what the machine does as it goes inside it starts to break it into pieces so as you pull it out the barrel cleans the waste that is on the fiber so when you take it out it is clean already. So when we hand it over there with the breeze and everything it drops a lot of the waste that stays over there."

"At the beginning it was a little bit hard but then right now things have been good in that area so we have no problems right now. We have one on standby incase one breaks down we have the other one to run, while we fix the other one but it does not take too much time to fix because I made them so I know what the problem can be."

"The only thing is when we do the lamp shades because we need those people from Arenal who makes the ropes right. They are the rompers we have so. As much fiber we have we sell it to them and sometimes we pass through a time that we don't have any material but we still have our targets to meet. We have about two or three weeks to make an order but if we finish orders before then we just call them before right."

They continue to experiment and create a number of unique designs, from massive lampshades, to purses and rugs, it's become an art, a labor of love, and a blessing for families who thrive off the extra income in making these products

Reporter:
"Did you ever think that this whole project would have grown the way it has over these past two years?"

Jerri Dennis, Owner, Belize Banana Fibers
"No but I am super pleased it has we have been blessed and there are families that now have income and the things that have come from that like they have increased their house size and they are doing things they never could have done."

"With all that we have actually started a new art as well so it's been wonderful."

One of those women is Olga Garcia here in Buena Vista Cayo. She tried her hand in working with the material a little over a year ago, and for her it's been one of her favorite pastimes at home without disrupting her daily duties of mothering.

Olga Garcia, Artisan
"Nos enseñaron lo más básico es enrollar la fibra y trenzarlo también. Y asi nosotros fuimos extendiendo más haciendo nuestras ideas. Trabajando haciendo alguna canasta o algo pequeño y luego pues llegamos a aprender lo que es la alfombra trenzada de bueno. Hay unas de tres pies otras de seis pies depende de el tamaño que nos piden asi lo hacemos."

"Pues digamos través esto ayuda nosotros conseguir algo extra de dinero y sin la necesidad pues de salir afuera de nuestra hogar. Estamos del pendiente de nuestra familia y trabajando en casa también."

Reporter:
"Pero te gustas por que es mucha trabajo?"

Olga Garcia, Artisan
"Me gusta si. Alguna dicen que es muy aburrido otros dicen que hay que tener mucha paciencia y algunos dicen que no tienen paciencia. Pero para mi pues es bueno a bueno me gusta hacerlo."

ENGLISH ( They taught us the basics, how to roll the fibers and braid them as well. And that's how we began to extend our ideas by working, making baskets or something small and that is how we learned how to make other things like rugs. There are some that are three feet, others six it depends on the size they ask for and we do it.) (It helps us make extra money without the need to leave our homes. We van be here taking care of the family and working from home as well.

But do you like it? Because it is a lot of work

Yes i do, some say it is boring others say you have to be patient and some say they have no patience but for me it is good, its good and I like doing it )

You can contact Belize Banana Fibers on Facebook or call 652-6823.