When I look at the actual palm trees and the fallen branches close up, I was also surprised at how big they are. A single leave can be more than 10 feet long. Usually the dried leaves are burnt, or just thrown away.
In the mean time, we were making lights for the villages using bare LEDs, powered by the electricity generated by solar panels. The bare LEDs were functional but ugly. So our team came up with the idea of embedding LEDs into the dead palm leaves shaped into desk lamps. Up-cycling in action! We later taught our students, as well as students in Cambodia, how to make these lamps. Sustainability incorporated into service-learning. We are told this is partly how we convinced our partner university in Cambodia to work with us. And we have been collaborating closer and closer ever since.
The dead palm leaves is a kind of very soft wood. It is not very strong but easy to work with. I have since created a variety of objects with them. One of which is this “Skinny Dinosaur”.
The body is a 4.5 feet long woody stem of a palm leaf.
The leg and feet is another piece of the woody stem, closer to the trunk of the palm tree.
I cut a long hole into the body, a key is inserted and turned 90 degrees to lock the leg and feet to the body.
The result is a very skinny dinosaur that can balance, gingerly, on its feet, with the help of a small piece of the woody stem hidden under the feet.
It is now a hobby of mine to create things using palm leaves - one of the many things which came about because of service-learning.
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