May Newsletter: Honoring Mothers Amidst COVID

photo credit: Vic Hinterlang

Read SOIL’s May newsletter below. To receive stories like these directly in your inbox each month, click here to sign up for our mailing list.

Dear friends,

This month at SOIL, we are feeling a profound appreciation for mothers. As we celebrate Mother’s Day in the US and as Mother’s Day approaches in Haiti, we are reminded anew of the incredible power mothers can have to impact the lives of their families and their communities. It is often mothers who make decisions about health, sanitation, and hygiene in their homes and for their families; we are proud to provide a service like EkoLakay that can help keep families healthy and safe. Access to sanitation services increases safety for women and girls, and allows for fewer missed days at school or at work.

Today, as we face the global threat of COVID-19, it is critically important to support mothers and caregivers by ensuring access to a safe in-home toilet that can reduce the threat of exposure and disease. Ahead of Haiti’s first confirmed case in March, the SOIL team moved quickly to launch robust emergency response initiatives to increase resilience on our team and in the communities that we support more broadly.

COVID-19 Response Update from SOIL

Since we last wrote, we have begun rolling out field testing of a routing tool aimed at helping container collection run more smoothly in the face of possible future disruption. Over the phone, we are continuing to actively engage with clients, team members, and government partners to identify where our support is most needed. Next week, SOIL’s sanitation team will distribute critically needed hygiene kits along with our weekly collection service to ensure families have access to Clorox, soap, and face masks to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. With the number of confirmed cases in Haiti jumping over 70% since Friday, we continue to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

The uncertainty we are all facing is incredibly challenging, but our team is grateful for the opportunities we have to share joy, honor each other, and spread love, even if from afar. We hope you are able to celebrate this month, whether you celebrate your mother, your mother-figure, or someone else who has offered guidance or care to you. Know that at SOIL, we are doing our best to celebrate ours. We’ll keep listening for their reassuring voices as we continue fighting to ensure access to safe, in-home sanitation for families in Haiti.

With love from Haiti,

The SOIL team

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SOIL depends on individual donations from people like you to fund our lifesaving, earth-restoring sanitation services in Haiti. Please consider supporting SOIL today.

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