Changing lives, one bag at a time

MANILA, Philippines –  It takes a second look to realize that Lulu Trinidad-Ocampo’s hand woven bags are made of paper. Woven in different patterns, painted with dainty flowers and bold designs, and finished with a shiny coat of varnish, these bags indeed deserve a second and even a third look. Lulu has dubbed these creations as “Bags for Life.” Fittingly, they have transformed both her life and improved the lives of those who have been involved in what has become Lulu’s life project.

Like many triumphs, it was tragedy that pushed Lulu to success. “I lost my husband 18 years ago,” she explains. When her husband, the late basketball coach Ed Ocampo, passed away, Lulu shares, “I didn’t know the reason why I was waking up.”

At that time, when her loss was still fresh, Lulu did not want to return to Sapang Palay, where the husband and wife used to do their apostolate. “There were so many memories there,” she says, “but I had to face it eventually.”

The bags come in various designs – from the unique and quirky, to the elegant and sophisticated STAR photos by Fernan Nebres

Upon her return to Sapang Palay, Lulu saw one of the choir’s guitarists weaving baskets. “I asked him to make me a bag,” she recalls. But, after a week, the guitarist was not able to produce a design. That was when Lulu tried her hand at designing and weaving bags completely out of paper. “It took me two months to make the first bag and many months to improve the design.”

With her first design, Lulu credits Mila and Tony Puno for really pushing her to turn her brainchild into a successful venture. She was also supported and encouraged by Baby Ocampo, the Soroptimists and the Zonta Club.

“I teach from Sunday to Sunday,” says Lulu, who has been going from city to city around the metropolis and beyond, teaching communities how to create these bags. Acquiring the skill, she points out, creates a viable and sustainable business because the materials used to make the bags cost next to nothing: just used paper – anything from newspaper to old phone directories – as well as paint and varnish, coupled with the skills that Lulu equips her students with.

Lulu adds that though there are also some popular recycled bags out of tarpaulin and tetrapacks, these require special machines to make. “Even a child can help in preparing the paper,” she says of her Bags for Life.

“It just takes 12 sessions of 3 hours each,” Lulu says, or six days, if she teaches in different provinces. To date, she has imparted her craft to groups in places including Smokey Mountain, Sapang Palay, Mandaluyong, Nueva Viscaya, Cebu, and Bacolod.

Her trip to Nueva Viscaya, she says, was one of the most memorable because she taught a group with disabilities to make the Bags for Life. In Mandaluyong, painting the bags has become therapy for mental patients under Dudz Torres.

In Smokey Mountain, she recalls not being able to eat at the site for days because the place was such a culture shock for her. After getting over her initial shock, however, Lulu says, “I was there for two years supervising.”

Lulu shares, “I’ve seen the very poor places and that has changed my mentality.” She admits she may not have been able to visit these parts of the country if not for the Bags for Life project. “You will have more heart when you go to these places.”

In a trip sponsored by Guia Gomez, Lulu recently went to Hong Kong to teach OFWs how to make the bags so they may get some extra income.

Lulu says that Gomez is another avid supporter of the project. “She told me that when she uses her designer bags, no one notices them, but when she uses our Bags for Life, everyone asks her about them,” Lulu shares.

It is not only Lulu that has gone out of the country to teach about Bags for Life. The bags themselves have been exported to Singapore and Los Angeles.

It was another unfortunate tragedy that made Lulu once again create an innovative product. When her mother died and was cremated, Lulu remembers that the family was given her ashes in an ordinary paper bag.

“We were so angry and surprised,” she says. “When I got home, I decided to make my mother a decent coffin.”

TBags for Life now offers designs with leather handles and embellishments and has branched out into products like wallets and organizers.

Thus, Lulu embarked on a new project – woven coffins made of the same paper-weaving technique as her bags. “I make these so I can help those who cannot afford to buy coffins,” she says, noting that many buy very expensive coffins that only go to waste. Some even go into debt to be able to pay for their departed’s coffins.

“These coffins are just as dignified,” she says. “It is the living that need the money.” It takes around P700 to P2,500 to produce a paper coffin.

Lulu also believes that the coffins are not only for those who cannot afford more expensive ones. “I’m already making my own,” she says.

“It will have beads and decorations,” she adds, hoping that this new trend of making personalized coffins will catch on. Instead of buying an expensive coffin, the money set aside for that will be given to charity.

Just give me a sample and I can make a prototype out of paper,” says Lulu. Aside from her Bags for Life, Lulu’s woven-paper products now include wine bags, baskets, passport holders, notebook covers, and of course, coffins.

“I didn’t think it would be this big,” she says of her success.

“I’m not doing this for myself,” she says. “Knowing that I did something good is fulfilling.”

On what motivates her, Lulu muses, “I think my husband is looking down at me and he is happy with what I am doing with my life.”

She adds, “Even if I am old, I am still useful” – something that can also be said of her elegantly recycled products.

“My only dream is that when I die, what I have done will be continued by those I have taught,” says Lulu, adding that her youngest daughter – who is taking up business in La Salle – will take over for her. Bags for Life, she hopes, will continue touching other people’s lives for many more years to come.

To order Bags for Life or schedule bag weaving lessons, call 0916-211-8969, 0916-559-3383, or 631-7654.