Our Founders
Since November 2010, La Vaiyakone and Mac Maness have been providing clean water and healthy handmade soap to individuals, schools, villages, hospitals and NGOs in Lao PDR. After marrying, they made a conscious decision to devote the rest of their lives to the service of the poor in Lao.
They did not have any prior experience of working with the needy, nor did they know where to start or how to go about it. To learn the ropes of service, they started volunteering at an NGO making and distributing ceramic water filters made from locally sourced materials. Within a year they knew that their hearts lay in supporting young women and their children in the villages they were serving with clean water.
In 2014, Soap4Life was formed and established as a US registered 501c3 non-profit organization. The corporate by-laws define our work... "To provide products and service to support the health and hygiene of children"....
The funding for Soap4Life comes from the commercial sale of soap made by village soapmaker graduates and the profits used to manufacture and install handwashing stations in schools in Lao PDR. We also receive donations from our generous "grass roots" supporters without whom we could not
help those who need help".