Group teaches soap-making for a cause

Cooking soap might be just as easy as making spaghetti.

On Wednesday two University of Tennessee students offer a new one-time class where they will teach anyone willing to learn the art of soap-making while offering fresh Tomato Head cuisine. The event, which will take place from 5 until 8 p.m. at the International House, is a fundraiser to benefit a trip to Africa where the students hope to use their knowledge to help others.

Austen Diamond and Kelly Hoskins, both members of UT’s Students in Free Enterprise have been raising funds for the past year to sponsor a venture in the West African country of Ghana as part of what they call Project Live Action.

“Project Live Action is a student led initiative to empower the world’s poor through the knowledge and the skills of free enterprise,” said Diamond, a senior in finance and Free Enterprise’s president at UT. “So eventually they can bring themselves out of poverty.”

According to their Web site Free Enterprise is a non-profit organization in universities throughout the United States providing scholars with opportunities to learn the principals of free enterprise in a real work environment. In the past, UT members have used their education to advise local businesses and help suggest marketing plans with partners such as the Golden Roast, a coffee shop on Melrose Avenue.

Now they plan to leave for the Ghanaian city of Anyako in mid-August where they’ll teach 25 Ghanaian women basic business ethics while cooking organic soap, Diamond said.

“We are interested in teaching business skills through soap-making,” he said.

While African women already know how to make soap, the students will help them refine the product and produce it in a more sustainable and eco-friendly manner. Students hope to help the women establish a small business enterprise, which could potentially help them increase their income, strandards of living and self esteem, Diamond siad.

He explained that emerging economies commonly known as third world countries often lack environment safety regulations in their business, resulting in environmental damages.

“Many countries would start a business and focus on profit, not sustainability,” Diamond said. “They don’t have that long term vision.”

On Wednesday Free Enterprise members will cook the so called “black soap” according to a traditional Ghanaian recipe.

“The soap-making process we are going to use is hot process which takes longer than the traditional American soap-making cold process,” Diamond said.

Both processes use potassium hydroxide as the chemical, which reacts with the rest of the ingredients — oils and fats — and turns them into soap. Students will mix unrefined palm oils, coconut oil and lye in a steel container above an oven, said Hoskins, a senior in English.

Free Enterprise members will run two soap-making batches; one will start before the event and the other will start in the middle of the event.

“In this way people can see the beginning and the ongoing process along with the final product,” Diamond said. “Anyone who can make spaghetti can cook soap.”

In the midst of the event, Free Enterprise members will present a Powerpoint presentation explaining the project and its purpose, during which spectators can enjoy Tomato Head cuisine for a voluntary donation.

“It sounds like an interesting project,” said Scott Parpin, co-owner of the Tomato Head, a restaurant on Market Square.

Diamond said the event will offer something more than a soap-making class and tasty food.

“This fundraising program will not only allow members of our community to learn an interesting skill, eat tasty food and converse about one of the world's biggest problems, it will allow them to become actively engaged and supportive of a solution to this problem,” Diamond said.