Martha Stewart would love this

Women in Africa have found a great use for the "carpets" of Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) that are clogging waterways all over the continent: they weave the plants into pillows, furniture, and yes, carpets. According to this article posted at AllAfrica.com, women's groups in Kenya are hoping to advertise their use of the nasty South American invasive plant to encourage tourists to make purchases. In Uganda, prison inmates are trained to harvest Water hyacinth and create textiles from them.