Meet Ruth, a young mother living in rural Malawi.  Her family, like most in her area, earns less than $1 per day growing crops of corn and selling or trading what they can to meet the basic needs for the family. When I visited Ruth recently, I learned that she wasn’t unfamiliar with soap.  However, like so many people living in poverty, Ruth had never been taught why soap and proper hygiene are so important for maintaining good health, so her family wasn’t buying it or using it.  As a result, she and her children were sick quite frequently.

But that changed this year when Ruth started participating in a collaborative program between the Global Soap Project and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Malawi.  In this program, Ruth attended a local clinic each month with other parents to receive a free bar of soap and hygiene education.  While there, she learned why handwashing  is critical to her health and the health of her family.  In a country where diarrheal diseases and pneumonia are leading causes of death, a bar of soap can literally help save a life.  In fact, simply handwashing with soap can almost cut those morbidity rates in half.

After nine months of participating in the program and using soap regularly, she and her family no longer get sick.  Better still, she and the other parents in the program now see the value of soap and are buying it for themselves regularly as an investment in the health of their children.  Many of them have to travel long distances and pay high prices for a single bar of soap.  But they say the health and lives of their children are worth it.  To us, that’s success.

This Holiday Season, as we reflect on the challenges and successes of another year, please consider how you can make a very real impact on the lives of people like Ruth in Malawi and the 27 other countries in which we’ve distributed soap and hygiene education to improve health and save lives.

A monthly gift to the Global Soap Project of $20 is enough to provide soap to 100 people each month.  A one-time donation of $100 can provide lifesaving soap to 40 people for an entire year.  To make a donation, visit www.globalsoap.orgor click the button below.  Your gift goes a long way – and we couldn’t do our work without you.

Thanks so much for your dedication and support.  On behalf of everyone at the Global Soap Project, I hope you have a joyous and healthy Holiday Season.

With gratitude,

                                        

Sam Stephens

Executive Director

For more information about the Global Soap Project visit http://www.globalsoap.org/hotels/