Soapmaking in India - The Women of Anupshahar

December 1, 2015 by admin 3 Comments

Benjamin and I (Amanda) were in India November 3-13th continuing to work with our soapmaking group. The women live in villages in and surrounding Anupshahar in Uttar Pradesh, India. Our host and partner, Pardada Pardadi Educational Society, is all about community development through women’s empowerment. Get more info here. We wanted to share a video […]

Discover more

Eating in India

November 9, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

Yesterday all of the women brought in a dish or two for us to eat. Because they didn’t want the food to get cold or the roti to get hard, they insisted that we eat right away, before the workshop began. We couldn’t say no. In small metal, cylinder containers were mysterious, colorful foods. It […]

The Means to Equality is Through Empowerment from Within

April 28, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

I don’t believe that fighting fire with fire is the means to a peaceful end – especially as it pertains to the rights of women in developing countries. We can’t politically sway the opinions and decisions of the civil laws in these places. The means to equality is through empowerment from within. This is what […]

Soapmaking in Daichen Village

March 19, 2015 by admin 2 Comments

We taught three brilliant Tibetan women, Danma, Tashi Khar & Tsho Khar Skyid, the craft of soapmaking in a little village called Daichen, which is located in a Tibetan Autonomous county in province of Gansu. The soapmaking project will start with these three women with the hopes of it funding other community development projects and […]

Soap. Breakfast. Family.

March 19, 2015 by admin 2 Comments

We will have many stories of soapmaking on our 42 day soap odyssey around the world… after a lot of long travel to, from and within China, we have arrived in Delhi, India and made a few friends already. Alas, I have chosen to write my first blog post not on soapmaking, which will come […]

January 21, Journal Entry

January 22, 2015 by admin 3 Comments

January 21, Journal Entry ~Benjamin In the ayewopo (airport) now, waiting for our flight back into the states. Because of the love and concern of many, we were able to fly down at the last second, getting the last 2 seats on the flight from Miami to Port au Prince. This quick trip was much […]

Journal Entry, 01/19

January 19, 2015 by admin 1 Comment

January 19, 2015 Lovin’ Soap Project Journal Entry ~Benjamin Today was the first full day up in the mountains of this quick, impromptu trip to Haiti. Mizak is a small village that sits in a vast area of mountains and valleys outside of Jacmel, a large port city on the Southern coast of Haiti. It […]

Our 2015 Spring Trip

January 11, 2015 by admin 3 Comments

Around the World in 41 Days The Lovin’ Soap Project is about to embark on its biggest mission yet. We will be literally circumventing Planet Earth on a 6-week journey that includes stops in North-Central China, Northern India & Southern Uganda. China On March 4th we fly west over the Pacific to Lanzhou, China in […]

Project Lydia (Uganda) Update

November 15, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

This past June Amanda and Benjamin went to Uganda to teach soapmaking to a group of women who are part of Project Lydia. Read more here and here. The Project Lydia soapmakers are Alice, Deize, Edith, Florence, Sarah, Sauda and Tabisa. Julie, who runs Project Lydia, came by to show us the packaging that they’ve […]

Florence asked, “Will you stand hand in hand to continue to help us?”

August 5, 2014 by admin 3 Comments

Benjamin and I are back from Uganda where we taught soapmaking to 7 brilliant women who are now part of Project Lydia. The women are (from left to right) Deize, Edith, (Amanda), Florence, Sarah, (Benjamin), Sauda and Tabisa. During the workshops we took the time to interview each women. I asked, “ When you are […]