Many Hands: SOIL's EcoSan Training

Haiti has often been referred to as the Republic of NGOs - no one knows exactly how many programs exist in the country, but there are easily thousands, maybe tens of thousands, operating in this country of nine million people. In this environment, NGOs can get caught up in competition with other....

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Theo Talks Episode 26: Rat Catcher

To all fifteen fans of the SOIL Theo Talks series (you know who you are): we sincerely apologize that it's been so long since the last episode. While there's been no shortage of footage being produced by SOIL's irrepressible Regional Director in Cap-Haitien, Theo Huitema, we have had some technical....

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Piti Piti Zwazo Fè Nich Li

Piti Piti Zwazo Fè Nich Li “Little by little the bird makes its nest.” –Haitian Proverb Last month marked the four-year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti. Since January 12, 2010, SOIL has provided emergency sanitation services for over 20,000 displaced people. Over the past four....

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The Story of NPK

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that we think Konpòs Lakay, SOIL's organic compost, is a pretty amazing thing. But unless you're a farmer or avid gardener yourself, you may not know why! After all, when you're surveying row after row of beautiful fresh produce at the grocery store....

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February 2014 Newsletter: Donations to SOIL Matched

Dear Friends, SOIL is currently treating over 20,000 gallons of waste per month, transforming it into rich, organic compost critical for rebuilding Haiti's soil. But we want to do more! We dream of doubling the capacity of our EcoSan waste treatment sites in order to increase access to critical safe....

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Safety First: The New and Improved SOIL Lab!

A few months ago, our team in northern Haiti moved into our beautiful, eco-friendly, cost-effective new office on our farm outside of Cap-Haitien. But we left one thing behind in our old office: the lab! Due to the unique demands of a lab space, it took a bit more time to get set up than the rest of....

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Goats, Blindfolds, and Bandits: SOIL Hosts Training for Red Cross Staff

Blindfolded participants navigating their way through a web of ropes, a forest of saplings, and around a goat? While it may sounds like some kind of strange party game, this was actually an educational demonstration during a recent SOIL workshop. SOIL hosted its first Green Recovery Reconstruction....

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SOIL 2013 Annual Report is Here!

Dear friends, The 2013 Annual Report is here! We hope you enjoy this quick summary of what we've been up to lately. It's an exciting time at the SOIL offices in Haiti these days: ecological sanitation (EcoSan) toilets built by SOIL and other organizations using SOIL's designs are providing critical....

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The Daily Beast: The Aid Industry Failed Haiti After Its 2010 Quake

By Elise Jordan in The Daily Beast, February 3, 2014 [box]"The SOIL project, operating in Haiti since 2006, turns human waste into compost at the largest sanitation treatment site in Haiti. Paid local toilet managers in the community are responsible for upkeep, and the sale of the compost will....

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Compost tanks

National Geographic: Is "Peecycling"; the Next Wave in Sustainable Living?

"Since 2006, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and grantee Sasha Kramer, a soil scientist, has been installing dry composting toilets that convert human waste into useful fertilizer in Haiti. The nonprofit group she cofounded, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), hopes to address....

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