SOIL provides dignified sanitation at PapJazz

SOIL’s EkoMobil toilets line the Boulevard in Carenage during the Jazz Festival

Since 2007 the Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival has welcomed some of the biggest international names in jazz and R&B to Haiti. The Festival was founded in 2007 by the Haiti Jazz Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising the level of the Haitian music industry using jazz music as a tool. The 2023 celebration took place over this past weekend. SOIL was proud to be a part of the festivities by providing our EkoMobil rental toilet service – and, of course, jamming out to the music. 

EkoMobil toilets and hand washing station

The festival, affectionately nicknamed PapJazz, typically takes place in Port-au-Prince but this year, due to ongoing insecurity and unrest in the nation’s capital, PapJazz headed north to Cap-Haitien. Spread out over two and a half days, the festival featured musical acts, workshops and after-party jam sessions at a variety of venues around the city. The festival’s main stage was set up along the city’s famous waterfront Boulevard in Carenage, and the closing party at the renovated Fort Saint Joseph. 

SOIL’s toilets did not fail to deliver their usual optimum quality of service and use. The toilets were orderly, well ventilated, smelling sweetly of our beloved “bonzodé” cover material, and fully equipped with hand-washing stations. SOIL’s toilet managers were also onsite to ensure that users were both comfortable and well maintained.

SOIL’s mobile toilets, similar to our household toilets, use ecological sanitation to process waste and produce compost, ensuring safe management and treatment of waste. The toilets are much better for the environment than traditional port-a-potties, which use harsh chemicals, and are not emptied in safe waste treatment facilities in Haiti. 

We’re happy that SOIL was able to play a part in this year’s Jazz Festival which brought a well-deserved moment of peace, respite and happiness to Cap-Haitien with the help of local partners. In the coming year, SOIL plans to continue to work with local partners and authorities to ensure that safely managed sanitation continues to be provided during public events to support healthy communities.  

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