World Centric x SOIL / 10 minute read
In Haiti only 30% of people have access to improved sanitation and less than 1% of wastes are safely treated. As a result, Haiti has the highest rate of childhood diarrhea in the world and recently battled one of the largest, most virulent cholera epidemics in modern history.
Nonprofit Partner: SOIL
|
SOIL, a Haitian-led sanitation organization, is transforming a public health crisis into an environmental solution by safely converting human waste into organic compost. In providing sanitation services to more than 9,000 people in underserved communities in Haiti, SOIL is helping to prevent the spread of waterborne disease while producing 100+ tons of compost a year. SOIL is demonstrating it's possible to provide a solution that simultaneously restores ecosystems, creates jobs, protects public health and mitigates climate change.
|
“My hope is that 10 years from now we'll understand the value of our country and we will start cleaning it up. I want to see pride in Haiti and in being Haitian. It’s very rewarding to be one of the people making a difference in Haiti and working for an organization that is helping to build a Haiti that I can take pride in.”
-Djimitri Cèlestin, Director of Operations, SOIL
Meet Georgette Francois: SOIL Compost Site Operator
|
Georgette Francois has been part of the SOIL team for the past 7 years as a compost operator. She’s one of the women on the SOIL team breaking barriers and dismantling stereotypes around women in sanitation.
As a compost operator, Georgette is helping to produce organic, agriculture-grade compost from safely-treated human waste. This process is transforming a public health crisis into a climate-positive solution that restores soil health, saves precious water, creates jobs, stops the spread of waterborne disease, and grows more food. "Working in sanitation makes me feel like a strong woman because it involves lots of energy and physical capacity.” When not working at the compost site, Georgette is busy at home taking care of her kids and tending to her garden. |
Meet Augulia Cemeran: an EkoLakay (SOIL) Customer
|
Augulia and her family have lived in the Aviasyon neighborhood of Cap-Haitien for 14 years. Married with two daughters, she works as a retailer and is also an avid gardener. Her family has been using SOIL’s EkoLakay service for the past 7 years. Prior to having SOIL’s toilet, Augulia's family had to ask their neighbor to use their toilet.
|
For families like Augulia’s, the reality of not having an in-home toilet means that you must resort to shared or public toilets, or no toilet at all. It places an extreme and unnecessary hardship on already vulnerable communities – leaving people without access to safe sanitation more vulnerable to disease, more at risk for sexual assault, particularly for women and girls, and living with a greater sense of anxiety. The impact of poor sanitation options is far-reaching and long-lasting – creating social and economic barriers that can be impossible to overcome.
SOIL has been a World Centric impact partner since 2016. Profits from our fiscal year 2020 were able to cover 15% of the total cost for SOIL's waste treatment program, which provides services for 1,511 households or 9,000 people for one year.
