Public Toilets in the Village of Labadi, Cap Haitien

The Village of Labadi is a small town of approximately 5000 inhabitants on the northern coast of Haiti. The Village sits on the same bay where the cruise ship Royal Caribbean has been coming for 20 years. Though luxury is visible from the village’s shore, the community remains trapped in poverty and of the 600 homes located in this small village only 22 currently have household toilets and there is only 1 functioning public latrine. As a result the majority of people in the community do not have access to sanitation facilities at all and are forced to go to the bathroom outside, often close to drinking water sources. This phenomenon is one of the main health concerns in this region and is also a serious environmental risk for the entire coastal area.

The organization Vwa Ayiti, a group based in the Village of Labadi and Washington DC, invited SOL to come to Labadi to build several demonstration public dry toilets near the school and in a densely populated area. For more information on Vwa Ayiti see their newletters.

The SOL team worked in collaboration with Vwa Ayiti to coordinate the construction of the first two toilets. The first toilet was built near the public school which serves approximately 300 children. The latrine currently serving the school was filled to overflowing and children go to the bathroom in the bushes near the school. The second toilet was built in the community of Mirande near another abandoned public latrine which was overflowing.

Two masons from Milot who helped build one of the first toilets in Barye Battant came to Labadi and trained several local masons from the village. In the past 6 months SOIL and SOL have trained 18 masons in 4 of Haiti’s 10 departments. Local masons are always trained to ensure that there is local capacity for building composting toilets so that if other organizations or the government are interested in funding a program there will be trained builders in the community.

Vwa Ayiti hired an artist, Ali Menard, from Cap Haitien to paint the toilets, making them the most beautiful toilets that we know of in Haiti. Ali took great pride in participating in a community development project and SOIL hopes to continue to work with Ali to beautify other community installations.

In February 2007 the toilets were opened to the public following an open educational forum for the community. Vwa Ayiti plans to continue with the toilet project now that they have the local skills.

	The organization Vwa Ayiti, a group based in the Village of Labadi and Washington DC, invited SOL to come to Labadi to build several demonstration public dry toilets near the school and in a densely populated area. For more information on Vwa Ayiti see their newletters.
	The SOL team worked in collaboration with Vwa Ayiti to coordinate the construction of the first two toilets. The first toilet was built near the public school which serves approximately 300 children. The latrine currently serving the school was filled to overflowing and children go to the bathroom in the bushes near the school. The second toilet was built in the community of Mirande near another abandoned public latrine which was overflowing.
	Two masons from Milot who helped build one of the first toilets in Barye Battant came to Labadi and trained several local masons from the village. In the past 6 months SOIL and SOL have trained 18 masons in 4 of Haiti’s 10 departments. Local masons are always trained to ensure that there is local capacity for building composting toilets so that if other organizations or the government are interested in funding a program there will be trained builders in the community.
	Vwa Ayiti hired an artist, Ali Menard, from Cap Haitien to paint the toilets, making them the most beautiful toilets that we know of in Haiti. Ali took great pride in participating in a community development project and SOIL hopes to continue to work with Ali to beautify other community installations.