SOIL's 2023 Annual Report
Tout moun se moun is a Haitian proverb that means ‘every person is a person’ – a sentiment that the SOIL team has held on tightly to this past year – another year that has been extremely challenging for Haitians and for many people around the world. As we share our 2023 Annual Report with you, news of natural disasters, of political discord, of impending warfare seem to be unceasing, and it can be difficult to find the good, to locate hope. But as SOIL’s Executive Director, Dr. Sasha Kramer, lays out so beautifully in her message in the report: all is not lost. She reminds us that it is inside of the moments when we take notice of the people around us, when we pay attention to the particular stories of particular human beings just trying to make their way in the world, that the dread of global current events gets a little less heavy.
Which is not to say that individuals haven’t faced significant hardship this year. In Haiti, hunger tightened its grip on a population already made vulnerable by continued insecurity, violence, and deepening economic woes. Another chapter of Haiti’s tumultuous history happened this year, and yet so did everyday life: love and babies, new jobs and homes, planting, cooking, birthday celebrations, wishes, art-making, sleep. And, for the nearly 14,000 Haitians who have access to a SOIL toilet, the security that comes with having a safe and dignified place to take care of their daily sanitation needs – a basic and fundamental human right.
Tout moun se moun.
It is on a person to person level that we here at SOIL understand what really is at stake every time we install a toilet in a family’s home, with each container of waste that is collected, every time a bag of compost gets mixed back into the earth. Health. Dignity. Transformation. Hope. As we work to bring our essential service to as many people in Cap-Haitien as we can, we also know that we couldn’t do this work without each and every person who donated to SOIL this year, each and every one of whom experienced their very own year of history and of life. Thank you.
We are so grateful for your continued and generous support, support that allows us to continue to push forward and to expand our reach even during these most challenging of times. We hope this report, which celebrates the achievements and hard work of our incredible staff over the past year, inspires you to continue on this journey with us.
We also hope that you will keep all Haitians in your thoughts as they navigate the current challenges and ongoing uncertainty of what tomorrow will bring. As we look ahead to 2024 we know that one thing is certain: SOIL’s commitment to providing access to the basic human right of sanitation in Haiti is unwavering.
Read the 2023 Annual Report.