Fake soap!

The soap in the work washroom produces absolutely no suds. Julia, the VSO librarian here, wisely realized that something was awry. The water here is so soft that the tiniest bit of soap usually produces mounds of lather. She replaced it and asked one of our Ugandan colleagues about it. The soap was fake! Apparently fake soap is a major problem here, along with fake shoe polish and fake bottled water. The most popular goods are the most counterfeited (people here are crazy about shining their shoes, and bottled water is a necessity). The bottled water is drained from a hole drilled in the bottom of the bottle, replaced with water from the tap, and then stopped up again so that the seal on the cap remains intact. What an amazing feat of innovation! It makes you wonder what those people would be up to if they didn’t have to struggle for basic necessities. Maybe the guy making fake soap would be curing cancer.