Soap-making is normally a very precise formula, and the ingredients must normally be measured by weight. But, due to some miscommunication, we didn’t have a kitchen scale on Saturday when Carolyn Schussler started teaching me the cottage industry that I will teach in Kisii. So we had to guesstimate based on Carolyn’s experience. But there were a couple of unknown factors — the lard we used wasn’t the nice, white lard Carolyn normally finds in her own local store; it was more of an off-white color and had a slightly softer, slightly-grainier consistency. Also, the wooden spoon we used to stir with obviously had some sort of food residue deep within; it turned a dark color and seems to have been responsible for a very slight scum on the surface of the melted soap.

Maybe that’s why I have such a serious expression in this photo. Even so, I learned the basic process. I have a batch of soap curing; it may be just a tad softer than it is supposed to be, but it was enough to teach me the basic idea. It must cure for two months, of course, until all of the remaining lye reacts with the fat and the soap is no longer harsh and caustic.

I’m hoping to go and visit Dave and Carolyn in Mississippi one weekend this summer for some more intense training. Carolyn and I have been teammates on both of my previous foreign trips (Nicaragua in January 2003 and Kenya last year), but this was my first opportunity to meet her husband, a really delightful guy who assured me that I was just as Carolyn had described me.