Palm Oil Fumes, Peroxide Plumes, and Homemade Soap Perfumes- July 17-19, 2012

  So I have enjoyed this week, even though we didn’t have power, therefore, no shower for four days. I went to bed smelling like would smoke and soap three nights as Luan and I were training the women’s group to make soap.

   The days were fun, but long, especially the first two days. Every day we left at 9:30 to drive about 15 minutes to the house we met at across town and out in another village. The first two days, we got back around 4:30 and the last day, we got back at 3:30. It always took longer because of the translating and because we were training. Wednesday, they provided lunch. Luan and I can make a batch of soap in 2-3 hours when not training, so the women were encouraged that it doesn’t take as long as the days did! :)

Shot of the women watching Luan stir soap.

    The first day, we started at 11:00, thank you African time, and we had six women. By 12:45, the group had grown to twenty. We had the same on Wednesday and Thursday we had 12-15. The first day, Luan and I trained them and showed them how to make soap after going over all the directions and precautions with them. And even though…lol…we added only a little bit, we had the peroxide explode again. Beautiful! Haha. Luan had printed handouts with all the information for making soap and buying the products as well as safety precautions and ingredients substitutes. Due to the heat difference between our stove and the open fire, every day, we boiled out more oil, therefore we only made three sixteen inch bars, instead of three and a half. Also palm oil has horrible smoke fumes…as does the wood. It instantly makes eyes water and coughing.

   Olive and Abolee were the two that wanted to make the soap on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the women made soap and we helped them and directed them. These two women were great. And it was fun to see what they learned. They wanted to add dye and perfume, so they added lots of blue and the scent was citra-nilla. It keeps mosquitos away and they all loved the smell…I thought it smelled horrible. Because of the oil in the dye, it made the soap more grainy feeling and the consistency was different from the other soap we had made.

Abolee and Luan mixing the soap.

 

Another shot of the women watching the soap making and fellowshipping.

  The last day, two other women made the soap and we also cut the heat way back. The women are used to rolling boils and lots of heat so it took a lot of reminding not to add wood and to use very little heat because the pot heated quickly and when it gets too hot, the soap separates. The women wanted to add dye, they LOVE color, and perfume again so Luan and I troubleshot the dye. We added it straight into the palm oil and thankfully, it totally came out better! And as we still had a little yellow in the oil after adding the peroxide, upon adding the dye, they got a different shade of blue.

Amooti Roseline is the main leader and translator of the women’s subgroups. She is spreading two of the three bars smooth into the molds. You can see the two shades of blue. The dark blue was the first batch the women made on their own and the other one was the second. Both batches came out well, but the women, including Luan and myself, liked the consistency and feel of the light blue much better. They did a very fine job!

   One of the old grandmas in the group, Abwoli, knew how to make liquid soap and made herbal soaps by buying soap bars, melting them down and then adding her own herbs she collects and then remaking it. She bought a long bar of soap for 2000 shillings and after adding her own scents and herbs, resold it for 5000 shillings because they are herbal/perfumed. She brought the perfumes and medicinal herbs and plants she used for Luan and I to see. They are pictured below...

Perfumes                       Medicinal 

  Perfumes left to right: lemon grass, lemon leaves, night rose, meetch (local), and Rosemary.

  Medicinal left to right: Aloe vera, and the rest...I can't pronounce nor write down. Sorry!

   The women really enjoyed making the soap, it will be interesting to see how many of the women start making soap. But, most soaps are sold 1500 shillings or more, so by making better quality, quantity, colorful, and scented bars the women stand to have good business.

   I really enjoyed the days as I got to know the women more and hear stories. They had given me the Empaka name, Amooti (Ah-mo-tee), a couple weeks ago which means “for the King” or “for royalty”. So it was fun to be teased by “Amooti” and “Emma” and then also they tried teaching me small Ratorro phrases. Just really fun and memorable. One of the ladies, a different Abolee, had her granddaughter one day. Akiiki (Haa-ki-ke) was a beautiful little Muslim girl of eight months and she absolutely loved me! Most times, Ugandan children don’t want to be held by a mzungu. When I gave her back, she started crying so after a bit, I took her from Abolee again and she stopped crying. But when I left…her tears came again. 

Akiiki and I