A Visitor’s Update: SOIL’s Response to the Cholera Epidemic

Dear Friends of SOIL,

I flew into Haiti yesterday morning  to see my friend Leah (SOIL’s Development Director). Within a few hours of my arrival in Port-au-Prince, Leah brought me to the tent city in Cite Soleil where her organization, SOIL, has been installing toilets and rainwater-fed hand washing facilities. SOIL has been building ecological sanitation solutions in Haiti for four years, but their organization has quadrupled since the earthquake in January as they’ve been building public toilets in camps that are serving over 25,000 people with basic sanitation services.

As you may have heard, there has just been a confirmed outbreak of cholera in Haiti and today we heard that is has spread to Port-au-Prince. Thus far the cholera epidemic has claimed over 200 lives with thousands more infected. Contrary to the popular media’s portrayas of the camp, the children and adults in Cite Soleil kindly welcomed me into their community. Like all of us, they only want what is best for their families and they now need our help more than ever. Next week, SOIL will be going tent-to-tent in every camp where they are involved to provide information on the prevention and treatment of cholera – for many, SOIL is their only connection to the international relief effort.

SOIL's executive director, Sasha Kramer, hangs up cholera prevention notices in SOIL's UniSol toilets.

Please consider supporting SOIL’s emergency response and ongoing work with a donation of $10 or $20 or more if you are able.

SOIL’s work on ecological sanitation in Haiti has been setting new standards for emergency sanitation response and building long term viable solutions for complete sanitation coverage. This is crucial for reducing the risk of cholera now and many other diseases in the future.  SOIL is a registered US 501c3 organization and is extremely well regarded for their work in Haiti.

Every bit of your donation will immediately go towards responding to the ongoing sanitation crisis.

Thank you and be well,
David Colt