I attended Reed College, the same alma mater of SOIL’s executive director and co-founder, Sasha Kramer. Reed students celebrate “Nitrogen Day” every year because it is arguably one of the coolest elements on the periodic table. One of the reasons why it’s a superstar element is that it’s essential....
SOIL is busy these days! In Port-au-Prince, the office is buzzing with plans for rolling out the EkoLakay service, and in Cap-Haitien, SOIL staff are working at full speed to build and install over 100 household toilets every month. To keep up with these exciting developments, we need your help to....
"Sasha Kramer is a slight, blonde former New Yorker who got a Ph.D. in ecology from Stanford University in 2006, the same year she co-founded SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods)—a nonprofit headquartered in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. SOIL’s mission is to “promote dignity, health, and....
Schools need toilets. This may sound like a no-brainer, but the reality is that many schools in Haiti, and elsewhere in developing countries, lack safe, private, dignified places for students to go to the bathroom. According to Human Rights Watch, in Haiti "most students and teachers have nowhere to....
"The man next to me on the bus strikes up a conversation during a rare smooth section of road from Port-au-Prince to Cap Haitien. “Are you a missionary?” “No.” “Do you work for a NGO?” “No.” “Then why the heck are you in Haiti?!” He’s not surprised that I want to visit Haiti – in fact, he thinks....
"You wait on a street corner, taking in the lush tropical scenery and the colorful clothing of the locals. It’s hard to believe that only a few months ago you were still in school, frantically trying to finish your reading for the week’s classes and wondering if you’d ever be able to submit your....
"We know how important toilets are in the fight against water contamination and diarrheal disease. But because of infrastructure and cost, conventional toilets don’t always work in developing countries – and as a result, 35% of the world’s population to lack access to basic, working toilets....
"To get the fuel she needed to cook her food and warm her home, Kenyan Nancy Wambui, 54, used to buy charcoal made from chopped-down trees. But recently, she was given a new set of briquettes to try, that looked just like regular charcoal but worked even better. The secret ingredient? Human poop.....
You may have read that SOIL is excited to launch our EkoLakay service in Port-au-Prince in the coming weeks, and if you’ve been a fan of SOIL for a while, you know that this has been a long time coming! But if you’re new around here, you may not know what all the fuss is about! Here’s the rundown on....
Before I arrived in Haiti for my Sustainable Development Internship with SOIL, my friends and family sent me a series of articles about wastewater treatment technology and the latest research on sanitation in poor countries ( watch Bill Gates drink a glass of water made from poop!). moonshot, an....