For washing or bathing?

Thursday 7 August

Today my Kampala mother, Maria, stopped by my room. She came to see if I was around and then brought back something she needed to give me and a light purple box. She opened the box and said “I need to ask you something. These muzungu that were here a short time ago, they gave this to me. They are soaps but I don’t know, are they for washing or for bathing?” She hands me the fragrant jasmine scented box of soaps, 4 square bars with flowers etched in the soaps. It took me a minute to think of the difference between washing and bathing…when I got my linguistic bearings I realized clearly she meant for washing clothes or for bathing. I told her they were for bathing, not for washing her clothes and then she asked “they won’t spoil my skin?” I smiled and said, “no…I mean I can’t promise anything but have you had a reaction to soap before?” She told me she had allergies but had not ever had any problems with soaps. Glad to be of some cultural relevance/assistance around here.