Wash up and get better.

Heman Bekele poses with his award. He was named America’s Top Young Scientist in 2023. (3M)
Heman had weekly online meetings with his mentor, Deborah Isabelle (left). It took months to make a soap to treat skin cancer. (3M)
Heman mixes ingredients to make his soap. (Fairfax County Public School)
Heman says he had to work a long time to get his soap to hold together. (Fairfax County Public School)
This is a bar of Heman’s soap. (Fairfax County Public School)

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This soap is bumpy. It does not smell like fruit or flowers. It feels sticky. Heman made it that way. He wants to help people with skin cancer.

His soap has medicine. It sticks to skin to help it heal.

Pray: Thank God for young people who work to serve others.

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Heman Bekele is 14. He lived in Ethiopia before his family moved to Virginia. He saw people in Africa work long hours in the sun. Too much sunlight can cause skin cancer. People often have to pay $40,000 or more for treatment. Not all places have the treatment that best fights skin cancer. Heman made a soap that helps skin cells heal. Then bodies can better fight disease. A bar of his soap costs 50 cents. He won the title of America’s Top Young Scientist in 2023.

“Defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:9)