The goal of the Olive Oil Soap Bar Project is to employ several men and women with part-time work to hand-make traditional Palestinian Olive Oil Soap Bars. Two men and two women are employed part-time in the Olive Oil Soap Bar Project. The men make the soap and the women package the soap.

Two types of hand-made Olive Oil Soap Bars are produced.

• Extra Virgin Grade Olive Oil Soap Bars
  These olive oil soap bars are organic. The ingredients are extra virgin grade olive oil, water, and sodium hydroxide.
  The extra virgin grade olive oil is cooked. A small amount of sodium hydroxide is added to the olive oil. Then, the olive oil is washed and dried for six weeks. The washing and drying processes removes all the sodium hydroxide from the soap. (An idependent, European organization performed scientific tests on several bars. Their result was that the soap was pure olive oil.) Then, soap bars are cut.
• Normal Grade Olive Oil Soap Bars with chamomile.
  The ingredients are normal grade olive oil, water, sodium hydroxide, and chamomile.
  The normal grade olive oil is cooked. Chamomile and a small amount of sodium hydroxide are added to the olive oil. Then, the olive oil is washed and dried for six weeks. The washing and drying should remove all the sodium hydroxide from the soap. Then, soap bars are cut.
  

Abouna Firas Khoury Diab is familiar with this type of project because Abouna's family hand-made soap bars using a traditional Palestinian olive oil soap recipe.

Olive oil soap: how it’s made and why it’s great on Without a Map, Experience Life in the West Bank, http://www.withoutamap.org/?p=178/?p=59

Photographs of finished packages of olive oil soap bars are shown below.

Olive Oil Soap Bar Box Front	Olive Oil Soap Bar Box Side
Medium   Large	Medium   Large	Medium   Large

The production of olive oil soap bars is shown below.

Medium   Large	Medium   Large	Medium   Large

Olive Harvest

Olive Oil Soap Bars are available from two Web sites:

• Holy Land Artisans
• Import Peace

Usually, these Olive Oil Soap Bars are only available locally. In special circumstances, Abouna Firas Khoury Diab will consider exporting these Olive Oil Soap Bars. One negative in exporting these Olive Oil Soap Bars is the high cost of transportation.

The exported Olive Oil Soap Bars are only available by donation. The exported Olive Oil Soap Bars are not for sale. No exported Olive Oil Soap Bars has been sold. Further, there are no plans to sell exported items. One reason is the high cost of transportation would make the cost of the exported Olive Oil Soap Bars so high that a cost conscious person would buy from other vendor.

The "Suggested Donation" covers the cost of the materials to make the soap, the labor, and the air shipment; plus a “small” profit. The word is “small”. If one of the expenses rises, the suggestd donation will not cover the all the expenses of making and transporting the soap. For this reason, St. George Church asks that you donate the $20.00 bank transfer fee.

The "Suggested Donation" to obtain bars of soap is $600 for 200 bars of soap plus $20.00 for bank transfer fees, for a total donation of $620. Why 200 bars of soap? The shipper in Ramallah charges by the weight. 19.9 kilos is the highest weight for a reasonable air shipment fee. (At 20 kilos, the shipping cost increases.) About 200 bars of soap is the highest number of bars of soap that will fit into a box weighting 19.9 kilos. I said about 200 bars of soap because scales vary and the weight of the packaging (box, tape, string, label etc.) is included in the 20 kilos. Sometimes, 197, 198 or 199 bars of soap reach the weight limit, 19.9 kilos. The $600 covers the cost of the materials to make the soap, the labor, and the air shipment; plus a “small” profit. The word is “small”.

An air shipment takes approximately ten days to two weeks. Holidays and weekends result in a longer time. A sea shipment takes approximately two to three months.

Donation instructions

• Holy Cross Melkite Greek Catholic Church
• Paypal

For more information, please contact the following.

• Abouna Firas Boutros Khoury Diab, firas_khoury2002@yahoo.com
• Martha Liles, mliles@mliles.com

These pictures were taken by Abouna Firas Khoury Diab and his family.