Palm-Oil Soap

Soap plays an integral part in the work of the laundryman. So the novice is also trained in the proper use of the palm-oil soap. Three different types of soap are used, which are identified by their color. The white and the yellow soaps are used for lightly soiled garments, and the black soap is used for those that are heavily soiled. The color is dark because of the palm oil, which is the main ingredient. Since each fanico uses at least ten blocks of soap every day, nearby soapmakers keep them in constant supply.

We visited the modest soapmaking facilities on the hillside adjacent to the “laundry.” The serious business of soapmaking begins at six in the morning. The workers have already bought the required materials in the local market​—coagulated palm oil, potassium, salt, soursop juice, coconut oil, and cacao butter, all biodegradable. They boil these ingredients together in a huge steel drum placed over a wood fire. After cooking the soap concoction for approximately six hours, they pour it into tin trays and bowls and wait for it to harden. Several hours later they cut the soap into large blocks.

Then, carrying a tubful of soap blocks on her head, the soapmaker goes down the hillside to the fanico. How does she deliver the soap to the laundrymen if they are busily splashing away in the river? She simply descends into the waist-deep water with the soap in a plastic tub, floats the tub on the water, and delivers the soap to whoever needs it.

[Picture on page 12]

A soapmaker selling blocks of soap