The Soap Making woman

We worked for some time together pleasantly in this manner until I started to fidget in my toubab way, not being used to sit on the floor. It was decided we would return tomorrow, barr further downpours, and tomorrow we will witness the making of the all important soap which removes the colour to create white lines on a black back ground. This is one of the main reasons I wanted to study with these old women, because I knew they use a soap made from potassium and shea butter to achieve this. The women in Djenné and the other bogolan makers of Mali normally use  bleach and I have steadfastly refused to do  that for Malimali’s bogolans, because it is a lazy way out and it is bad for the fabric. To tomorrow, inchallah, the soapmaking woman- another ancient friend of Assiata, - will burn the millet stalks which will produce the potassium from the ashes, if I am not wrong, before she mixes it with the shea butter... 

Oh, yes! And just imagine, instead I could  be sitting  in Ladbroke Grove... Hmmm....What was that ? going back? I must be out of my mind!