232 results for tag: In Haiti

Meet Madame Petit: DINEPA’s Director of Sanitation

During this Women’s History Month, we are celebrating the often unheard voices of Haitian women working in sanitation and celebrating those who were selected as 2023 Women in Sanitation nominees. Recently we had the opportunity to speak with Edwige Petit, Director of Sanitation at the Haitian Sanitation Authority (DINEPA), about her life and her job and what it’s like to be a woman working in sanitation. Interviewer: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?  Edwige: I am the head of sanitation at DINEPA. I am a Haitian citizen who has big dreams for my country. I am an advocate for the environment and also a mother who is working to ...

SOIL’S EkoMobil Toilets Provide Sanitation Services at Boulva Naval

Photo Credit: Sakapfet OKAP On February 5th, 12th and 18th the second annual Boulva Naval festivities took place on the boulevard du Cap-Haïtien with the theme: A City, A Youth, A Culture and created an atmosphere of celebration in the city. The event included parades of dancers, acrobats, walking bands and a float carrying a DJ. As Haiti continues battling crisis after crisis — including ongoing insecurity in Port-au-Prince — and the national Kanaval being canceled again this year, residents of cities across Haiti kicked off local carnivals over the past month, eager for a chance to escape from the hardships and stresses they face daily. ...

Envisioning and Planning for the Future

This past month, members of SOIL’s management teams gathered in Cap-Haitien to spend a few days digging into our long-term strategic planning and goals as an organization. The gathering was not only about addressing big questions, but also a wonderful opportunity to connect with one another and get rejuvenated and reaffirmed in our commitment to the work we are doing. This workshop was a rare and welcome opportunity to bring SOIL leadership together under one roof. The team was incredibly excited to have time to work “tèt ansanm” (or “heads together”), as they say in Haiti, especially after such a challenging year. We were also ...

SOIL Grows Through It All

A time-lapse map illustrates SOIL's household service growth from 2014 - 2022 Since its founding in 2007, SOIL has been working to provide regenerative and life-saving sanitation services to meet the vastly unmet need for improved sanitation in Haiti, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas. SOIL’s flagship household service, EkoLakay, was first piloted in Cap-Haitien in 2014, and since this time, has expanded to reach over 2,200 households, providing more than 13,000 people in urban Haiti with safely managed sanitation. Each and every household that joins our service is a milestone for us; and represents one more family that no longer has to ...

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.  The festival, affectionately nicknamed PapJazz, typically takes place in ...

Renewed hope in the new year and proud reflections of the past year

Members of the SOIL EkoLakay team. It’s the beginning of a new year and the SOIL team is heading into 2023 with renewed hope and mindful optimism. Despite the ongoing political, social & health-related challenges of last year that significantly impacted our staff and our customers, there are also great achievements to celebrate, particularly among the members of our team in Haiti, who, despite the considerable hardships, worked tirelessly and together and didn’t lose hope. We are deeply grateful to each and every one.  In October, when the first new cases of cholera were reported, SOIL sprang into action, understanding that our EkoLakay ...

Sanitation. Dignity. Hope.

Sanitation. Dignity. Hope. Three matters of substance that we here at SOIL use to guide our daily efforts and attention.  As we look back on another challenging year, it is apparent that Haiti’s vulnerable populations are at risk of bearing the greatest burden of the ongoing economic, social, and political instability in the country. It is critical that SOIL continues to expand our service and reach even more households with essential access to sanitation, a basic human right and a life-saving technology, that also provides hope to the families we serve during these difficult times. Sanitation/ Sanitasyon “SOIL is an organization that ...

A conversation with SOIL’s Waste Treatment Manager, Sadouddly Michael Lambert

Our Haitian staff members remain safe in Cap-Haitien as we continue to navigate the current challenges with a robust emergency response plan and an incredibly dedicated group of employees.  In one of our final staff conversations of the year, we spoke with Saddoudly Michael Lambert, SOIL’s Waste Treatment Manager, about his work, life and the current times in Haiti.   Interviewer: How are you and your family doing right now?  Sadouddly: My family and I are doing well although the situation is making things more difficult for us as it affects my family business and their daily activities. Interviewer: What does a typical work day look ...

A conversation with SOIL’s Keurlit Charles

Keurlit Charles, SOIL's Field Operations Supervisor  We are continuing to engage in conversations with members of SOIL’s sanitation staff in Cap-Haitien to learn about the ways they are navigating the current situation in Haiti with their family and in their community.  This week, we spoke with Keurlit Charles, SOIL’s Field Operations Supervisor, to check in and hear how the ongoing crisis in Haiti is impacting his work and his home. Interviewer: How are you and your family doing right now?  Keurlit: Like every Haitian, my family and I fight to try to make a living. My family depends on my income from my job at SOIL because the other ...

A Conversation with SOIL’s Human Resources Director, Wisner Jean-Louis

Wisner Jean-Louis in the Cap-Haitien office The year continues to be a very challenging one in Haiti – full of uncertainties for all Haitians caught in the midst of political, social, and economic instability. As an organization we are proud of our field team's courage and dedication providing consistent access to life-saving and dignified sanitation services for some of Haiti’s most vulnerable families, despite the other uncertainties that impact daily life.  To give you a better sense of what motivates the SOIL team we are continuing to engage in conversations with members of our sanitation staff in Cap-Haitien to hear about how they are ...