A Fulani woman in the small village of Bele Kwara in southwestern Niger holds a calabash cover (called "bedu" in fulfulde) in her left hand, which she is in the process of weaving. The calabash cover is used to cover calabashes (small or large bowls made by removing the insides of a large squash-like vegetable) or to cover water pails or food containers, so that the containers or calabashes can be stacked on top of each other...She weaves the calabash cover from strands of grass that have been soaked in mixtures of clay and ground tree seeds to achieve the different colors. (The beige color is the natural grass color.) It can take one to two months to complete a single calabash cover, depending on how much time the woman has. The average cost of a a calabash cover in the market is less than $1...Covers with different designs are used for different purposes. For example, a woman would cover a water pail with a simple beige calabash cover, with no design or coloring, whereas a colorful calabash cover with a complex design would be saved for a calabash storing milk.