Palm Crosses - Pack of 50

Masasi African palm crosses are handwoven without chemical treatment of the trees or palm leaves. The absence of chemical treatment protects the Masasi village environment and makes the palm crosses safe this Palm Sunday and their burnt ashes safe to use on next year's Ash Wednesday.

Poor in everything except spirit and African dwarf palm plants, the entire population of Masasi village find a role in hand-weaving Easter palm crosses from single strands of natural palm leaf.

Sourced entirely from a village in one exceptionally poor area of Southern Tanzania, Eden.co.uk's African palm crosses are woven in one piece by the men, women and children of the Masasi village. Harvested from locally grown and nurtured dwarf African palms, hand-woven crosses give the villagers a life-line income.

Farming on a subsistence level, only the sale of their few surplus cashew nuts offers the villagers any hope of even the most basic levels of health care and education. When in 1965, Anglican missionary Alan Talbot founded the charity African Palm Crosses, the farming families of Masasi found the opportunity to lift themselves above the poverty line.

Weaving the strips of locally grown palm fronds into perfectly formed palm crosses, the villagers turned an ancient handicraft into a self-help opportunity to invest in the future health and education of their village. Through their distribution network 'African Palms', the proceeds from Masasi palm crosses are re-invested to meet basic needs and services that the developed world takes for granted.

Proceeds from African Palm Crosses are invested in children's eye clinics, improved seed stocks, HIV Awareness, water resources and environmental conservation.

Through these programmes, funded in part by African palm crosses, the health and wellbeing of children & adults is a substantially improved. With the income and education from African palm crosses, villagers have the resources and knowledge to invest in their children's future and in protecting their environment.

Size approx 15x26cm / 6″ x 10.5″, weight approx 125g per pack