When most of us go to the sink or the shower or the tub, there it is. It’s just there, we don’t even think about it. But what if it wasn’t? What if that little green or brown bar of soap wasn’t at the sink any longer? How effective would your hand washing be without soap? How about that dirt under your fingernails? Could you get your clothes clean without soap?
Most of us don’t even think about such things, but for many in Malawi not having soap is a reality of life. The truth is that soap is a wonderful gift that people in other parts of the world prize and that we in America take for granted. This has been especially true during the pandemic of 2020.
This month Y-Malawi began a new initiative to change all that. The Vocational Training Center has just held their first soap making class! Students will now be learning how to make bar soap that people use for washing hands, clothes, basically everything. The process is fairly simple and uses safe ingredients that can be sourced locally. It’s an initiative that will not only help solve the issues of having soap, but it will provide new small businesses for people too.
Graduates will be able begin making soap on their own as a small business. Y-Malawi has already been providing soap for women, girls, and others in need through the sponsorship program. Now Y-Malawi can purchase the soap from these small businesses in the villages rather than at a major store in the city. People will also be able to sell their soaps at the Vocational Training Center store and other small shops in the area.
Making soap is just one more way God is using Y-Malawi to bring sustainable development and the hope of the gospel to the people of Malawi.
