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Show All MnUoncd Up! nU-rr tJ.JrJ- :..,-:-i--''-f:- -.;-j.;..,,.,-aS,5iaa An enterprising East African "7 ' :dS-ss:sm country has a new industry : ---IlL-,.::- based in equal parts on the CT" " """"ofr ' 1 nT sport of skin-diving and the I y1J,"aii childhood game, "Button-But- V X. ton." &r7Cflr. For centuries in Sudan, div- J f4'T ers have jumped into the Red Sea, scooped an oyster-like j. 1- t 1 c mollusk off the bottom and sur- iVf r ft jSSg'A faced just before their breath j2-i ' ran out. The shells were used r-fT'L to make pearl buttons but js351-5fJ lYt they, took the long way around r5 F. getting into a Sudan house- sjjjSr' wife's sewing basket. to use scuba gear: swim fins, First, the shells were shipped , , , . . to Europe. There they were aceUI mf ks aund sn0Iels t0 made into buttons. Finally, the double the,r submarine harvest-buttons harvest-buttons were brought back for mS efficiency. Then the FAO sale in Sudan where they men helped build a button started from! factory on the spot. The United Nations Food The result: Sudan's first and Agriculture Organization home-made buttons turned out helped set up a more sensi- in a new plant with an eight- ble. procedure. FAO experts hour capacity of 250 gross, showed fishermen how to grow The demand for buttons has the mollusk under controlled been so great that the factory conditions in underwater has gone on a double-shift, 16- farms. Next, they taught divers hour day. |