Soap!

I went to Sinni’s compound to see if I’d missed the raffle (I hadn’t, it’s been maybe-postponed). Ma Balde and another older woman were rolling soap into balls. I asked what goes into soap.

“Oil, [a-word-I-forget], ‘ferra’.”

Pippi Isatou describes ‘ferra’ for me, which I originally think might be the word for lye, unless it is the word-I-forget. This thought is abandoned when she says ‘ferra’ is what goes into panketos. I try to think what ingredient would be common to both fried dough balls and laundry soap. I finally decide it must be flour.Unless baking soda goes into panketos? That’s another word I don’t know.