Haiti's First Sustainable Sanitation Conference Off to a Great Start!

(Li vèsyon kreyòl la anba a)

Thank you all for being here today. It is a pleasure to see so many people interested in sustainable sanitation. Many of us have shared this dream for some time, organizing a space where we can come together and share our experiences. I want to thank everyone who has helped to make this dream possible, from the organizers to the presenters to the community members who have come to share their perspectives. Thank you to DINEPA for participating in this conference, especially Edwige Petit, Sanitation Director for DINEPA, who will start the conference off. Thank you to all of the people that participated in the Ecological Sanitation Working Group who gave us many of the ideas that will be shared here today. When I look out at all of you I see many representatives of NGO’s and government, but more than that I see a group of global citizens who are searching for ways to improve living conditions for those who are struggling. I see a group of people who care about reversing environmental destruction.

The wonderful, active audience at Haiti's first Sustainable Sanitation Conference.

SOIL’s mission is to transform wastes into resources. Today’s conference will cover different techniques for transforming human wastes from a major cause of disease into a resource that can improve human health and the environment. We are very excited to have this opportunity for us to all share our experiences, so that we can learn from each other so mistakes are not repeated. We hope that together we can work towards developing projects that provide lasting change, not just temporary solutions.

I hope that we can work together to better understand the potential for human waste recycling, but I also hope that we can be honest with one another about what has and has not worked so that we can all improve the quality of our work. In this conference we are all both teachers and students and I look forward to starting a dialogue that will continue long into the future.

This is the first Sustainable Sanitation Conference in Haiti but we hope it will not be the last.

— An kreyòl —

Byenvini nan premye konferans sanitasyon dirab. Se yon plaisi pou we nou tout la jodia. M pap pale twop paske nou gen anpil perspektiv pou n koute jodia.

Anpil nan nou te gen rev sa depi lontan, pou n vin ansanm nan yon espas kote tout moun ka pataje eksperyans pa yo. Jou sa rev la realize epi m remesi tout moun ki te fe sa posib. Moun ki te organize konferans la, moun kap fe prezantasyon, manm kominote yo ki soti lakay yo pou vin pataje eksperyans pa yo. Mesi a DINEPA paske yo patisipe ansanm ave nou jodia, sitou Madam Edwige Petit, DirektrisAsenisman, k ap komanse konferans la. Yon gwo mesi toujou pou moun ki te patisipe nan gwoup sanitasyon ekolojik, se nou menm ki te ba nou anpil ide ak ankourajman pou sa ka reisi. Jodia mwen we anpil reprezantan ONG ak gouvernman, men m panse ke nenpot ki job ou genyen, tout moun ki la jodia se sitwayen global k ap chache yon solisyon pou moun k ap soufri. Mwen we yon gwoup moun ki gen ke pou anviwonman k ap degrade.

We're so happy Bobo's back! SOIL Sanitation Director, Baudeler Magloire, and SOIL Sanitatation Coordinator, Jimmy Louis, look over the conference materials.

Misyon SOIL la se pou transfome tout sa ki pa bon nan yon bagay ki ka itil. Konferans sa pral pale de diferan teknik pou transfome kaka, pou li pa fe moun yo malad anko, men pou l devni yon bagay ki ka amelyore lavi moun. Nou kontan pou n gen opotinite sa pou nou tout ka pataje eksperyans pa nou, pou youn ka apran nan men lot, e pou nou ka aprann ki jan pou n emplimente yon pwoje pou l vreman pote chanjman pou popilasyon an.

An nou mete tet nou ansanm pou nou ka dekouvri ki potensyal ki egziste nan resiklaj deche moun, men konsa tou an nou pa pe pou pale de sa ki pa mache pou menm move ekspreyans pa repete. Nou tout se koleg e nou swete tout moun ka santi yo alez pou pataje eksperyans pa yo. Nou swete ke jodia ak demen tout moun santi ke yo menm se ni pwofese ni elev, men tou le de a la fwa.

Konferans sa se premye konferans sanitasyon dirab an ayiti men nou swete se pa denye a. Jou sa yo, ke n ap pase ansanm, se kom yon konasman de yon dialog ke nou swete ap kontinye byen lwen. Mesi anko e men swete ke nou tout ap kite jou sa ak plis konesans.

Check out all the photos from the day on SOIL’s Flickr page.