Bubbles of Hope

Soap for hope, the brainchild of a multi-national packaging company and the NGO Doctors for You, is all set to make its presence felt in Mumbai. Using the cold press method, the idea involves a number of used soaps being pressed into a new bar without using electricity or running water. The new bars will be distributed among people living in slum areas. So far, Soap for Hope has been a massive success in 27 countries in Southeast Asia and Africa.

The initiative that is led by Sealed Air, has just started operations in Mumbai. The soaps will be distributed among the slum-dwellers staying in the Mankhurd and Bhiwandi areas where Doctors for You has already been spreading awareness about the importance of washing one’s hands with soap. Dr Naresh Gill, head of Mumbai operations of Doctors for you, says, “This method will also generate employment among the poor while also meeting the demand for soaps in these slum areas.”

Although the official launch was on May 28, the NGO had already begun working with the people in Mumbai slums. Slum-dwellers, especially women, in the Mankhurd and Bhiwandi region have been recruited for the project. So far 1,500 soaps have been made from 200 kilos of wasted soap fragments and 600 of these soaps have been distributed to the children. Plans for distributing soaps in schools and among anganwadis are in the works.

The initiative has been getting a good response from the city’s top five-star hotels from where the waste soap is being accumulated. They are looking at expanding beyond metropolises to more touristy areas as well, as the concentration of hotels in those areas is a lot more.