May 2012 Newsletter: South Africa, Haiti, Sanitation and Friends
Dear friends of SOIL, I am writing to you from South Africa where I have been exchanging ideas with Durban’s municipal authority who are currently operating the world’s largest ecological sanitation project. I have learned so much from this exchange and am so grateful to all of the organizations, individuals and government representatives who have warmly received us. I have also been deeply inspired by the realization that, though there are many laudable projects happening throughout the world, SOIL’s work remains at the...
read moreAmerican Interest: Rebuilding Haiti: Why is it taking so long?
by Tate Watkins in American Interest, May 10, 2012. “The glass is 10 percent full,” says Nigel Fisher, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for reconstruction efforts in Haiti. “It’s now time to tackle the remaining 90 percent.” Yet more than two years after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and after billions of recovery dollars pledged by the United Nations, foreign governments, and private aid organizations, 10 percent full sounds appalling. An estimated 420,000 Haitians still live in tent camps. The cholera outbreak that...
read moreMercy Corps Global Envision: Transforming Poo into a Valuable Resource
By Pete Mercouriou on May 10, 2012 in Mercy Corp’s Global Envision. In Haiti, one nonprofit may have figured out how to make a pot o’ gold out of a port-o-pot. Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods, or SOIL is dedicated to protecting soil resources, empowering communities, and transforming human waste into a valuable resource in Haiti. Leah Nevada Page, SOIL’s development director, gave us an insider’s scoop on poop. What’s the importance of ecological sanitation and how is it received in Haiti? “When SOIL...
read moreSOIL Anonse Konferans Nasyonal Asenisman 2012
Tanpri vin patisipe nan premye Konferans Nasyonal Asenisman nan Pòtoprens nan Madi ak Mèkredi, 12-13 Jen 2012. (English version.) Nan dènye 2 ane, plizyè òganizasyon inisye proje isit an Ayiti, ak twalèt konpostaj e systèm biolojik, nan yon efò pou transfòme matyè fekal imen nan yon resous ki gen valè. Lè nou konsidere ogmantasyon entere nan teknoloji inovatè pou transfòme deche, gen yon gwo bezwen pou pataje enfòmasyon pami ONG e gouvènman ayisyen, e pou kreye e ranfòse norm/règ nasyonal pou asire ke santé piblik...
read moreSOIL Announces the National Sustainable Sanitation Conference 2012
Please join us at the first ever National Sustainable Sanitation Conference to be held in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 12th and 13th, 2012. (Anonsman an Kreyòl) In the past two years numerous organizations have initiated projects in Haiti involving composting toilets and bio-systems in an effort to transform human wastes into a valuable resource. Given the rising interest in these innovative waste treatment technologies, there is a great need for information sharing among NGOs and the Haitian government and the creation and...
read moreSOIL Visit to EAA, Ouagadougou
This is one story from a multi-part series on SOIL’s adventures in Africa. After a successful morning with the women of Dunkassa, Sasha, Bobo and I, accompanied by our ADESCA colleagues Zachary and Guninen, embarked on a road trip to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The purpose of our trip was to visit the African water and sanitation organization EAA / WSA (Eau et Assainisement pour Africa / Water and Sanitation for Africa), formerly known as CREPA. Sasha had first heard of the work of CREPA in 2005 whilst at an EcoSan...
read moreBack Into the Toilet
This is one story from a multi-part series on SOIL’s adventures in Africa. Our wonderful adventures in the depths of abandoned pit latrines continued this week with yet another descent into the old school latrine in Kalale Benin. Our small SOIL team of myself, Baudeler (Bobo) Magloire and Anthony Kilbride, came to Benin one week ago to collaborate with a local organization ADESCA by sharing our ecological sanitation experience in Haiti in an effort to help make women’s community gardens in several rural communities more profitable. ...
read moreA truly magical experience from the Magic Toilet!
And now to put ecosan to the test… (This is one story from a multi-part series on SOIL’s adventures in Africa.) After our successful trial of exhuming beautiful compost from the Kalale school latrine on Wednesday, we had today the real test of our trip to Benin: to convince the women of the Bessassi garden community that they might want to create their own magic toilet, and use its compost (produced from their poop) in their own garden: No mean feat! The omens for a successful and convincing sensibilisation session were not all good...
read moreYon pelerinaj Asenisman mennen yon nouvèl dekouvèt nan listwa / Travel brings new discoveries in history
This is one story from a multi-part series on SOIL’s adventures in Africa. English version below Mwen te vwayaje pandan twa jou tout lannwit poum te rive nan peyi benin dafrik e mwen te pase plizyè peyi tankou panama, kiba, lespay, mawòk, togo jis mwen te rive nan bout tè peyi benin dafrik. Objektif pwensipal vizit sa nan benin dafrik se te pou yon pataj eksperyans nan domenn sanitasyon ekolojik ak yon oganizasyon beninwaz ki rele ADESCA ki chita nan komin kalale nan benen e rive travay ak oganizasyon fanm nan 2 vilaj anndan kalale...
read moreSOIL in Africa Part 2: Into the Toilet
This is one story from a multi-part series on SOIL’s adventures in Africa. Today we had one of the highlights of our professional careers, or at least it was one of my finest hours. In an attempt to demonstrate the possibility of converting human waste into compost the SOIL team, together with our hosts ADESCA, paid a visit to the local primary school. But this was not your usual school visit. We were looking for proof that human wastes can be transformed into soil, and what better place to find that proof than deep in the ground...
read moreSOIL in Africa!
This is one story from a multi-part series on SOIL’s adventures in Africa. For the next 3 weeks a SOIL team will be working in Benin, learning more about the culture here and constructing the first of 3 ecological toilets in a rural area in the northern region of Kalale in collaboration with a local organization ADESCA and their international partner SELF. This trip is thanks to the Blackstone Ranch Institute which offers a challenge grant for the most innovative new projects proposed by two or more National Geographic Emerging...
read moreVolunteer Needed: Help Us With The Household Sanitation Survey
SOIL is currently working on a Household Toilet Pilot Project in two of Haiti’s poorest neighborhoods- Shada, in Cap-Haitian and Cite Soleil, in Port-au-Prince. We completed a lengthy handwritten paper-based survey of the 3,000 or so residents of Shada, assessing socio-economic status, sanitation needs, water use, etc. Now we need someone absolutely meticulous to enter this data for us. We are asking for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. The rest of the time would be yours- for other work, research, volunteering or exploring Haiti. We...
read moreHelp Us Build Household Toilets in Cite Soleil and Shada
SOIL is applying to be a Rising Star in Global Health and we need your support to win! Please take a few seconds to watch our video and vote for household sanitation in Haiti. Up to 30 successful candidates from each round will be selected to receive $100,000 Canadian, and from this group, 12 will receive up to $1 million each in a “scale-up” grant. The decision is made partially on the merit of the “bold” idea being proposed and partially on public voting. Help SOIL’s bold idea to create a sustainable business model...
read moreVoice of America: Turning Apathy and Pollution Into Valuable Resources in Haiti with Dr. Sasha Kramer, Executive Director and Co-Founder of SOIL and National Geographic Emerging Explorer
Visionary Leader, Extraordinary Life with Kate Ebner, Voice of America, April 16, 2012 In 2010, UNICEF reported that only 10% of rural Haitians and less than 25% of those in cities had access to adequate sanitation facilities. People are forced to find ways to dispose of their wastes, often in the ocean, rivers, ravines, plastic bags, or abandoned houses. At the same time, agricultural output is low due to poor soil fertility, soil erosion and lack of fertilizers. Since 2006, Dr. Sasha Kramer, Executive Director and Co-Founder of SOIL...
read moreSOIL On Track to Meet Clinton Global Initiative Commitments
As one of the only organizations providing complete sanitation in Haiti – toilets and treatment – SOIL takes its commitments to increasing sanitation access very seriously. In 2011 we applied, and were accepted, to the Clinton Global Initiative‘s Haiti Action Network. We have used this forum to publicly state our objectives for increasing sanitation access and to support an international initiative to increase accountability for international organizations in Haiti. Today I’m proud to announce that SOIL successfully...
read moreExperiments in Composting: Po Pistach!
We are REALLY excited up here at the Cap-Haitien office about our new cover material: ground peanut shells! We have been using bagasse (a byproduct of sugarcane production) for years, which has been doing the job, but perhaps not breaking down as fast as we would like. It’s important for us to have a carbon material that works well with feces to break down into compost in a timely manner, as now we are processing so many people’s “waste”. Because sugarcane production is a large portion of the Haitian agronomy sector, it’s been easy...
read moreSpring Newsletter: We have 400,000 gallons of compost!
SOIL has 400,000 gallons of rich, organic compost curing in piles at our waste treatment sites around Haiti and we’re producing more at a rate of 5,000 gallons a week! Check out the full story in the SOIL Spring Newsletter.
read moreSOIL Staff Get CPR and First Aid Training
On a sunny Friday earlier this month, all staff members came to the SOIL office up here in Cap Haitien for a little CPR and First Aid training. Because we have so many staff members working in potentially dangerous situations (and really, anything can happen anytime!), it was decided that it would be a good idea for everyone to have the basic knowledge of how to take care of a wound, and what to do if someone goes into cardiac arrest. I myself am not a certified instructor to teach, thus this was by no means a certified course, but after many...
read moreAl Jazeera Earthrise Dija-TV: Eco-Toilets (News Video)
Coverage by Gelerah Derabi on Al Jazeera Earthrise on Dija-TV, March 30, 2012
read moreVideo Release: A New Beginning in Cite Soleil: The Jaden Tap Tap
Bochika, SAKALA and SOIL are proud to announce the unveiling of a new short video that showcase’s the “Jaden Tap Tap” (Tap Tap Garden) and a positive side of Cite Soleil, Haiti that is rarely shown to the public. We invite everyone to take a moment and enjoy this video that demonstrates the combined hard work of organizations and communities to realize a collective dream. Watch the video on Bochika’s Vimeo channel.
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