It’s been a long time since I’ve updated but as some of you already know, I’m writing you now from Haiti, having started working with the organization Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) in Port-au-Prince.
Now that I think about it, I should probably take a step back and explain the past few months. Last time I posted would have been early November and much has happened since then!
What I suppose is technically most important is that I graduated, completing my Masters of Arts in Latin American and Caribbean Studies with a concentration in Environmental Studies (shout out to the Latin American and Caribbean Center at FIU). Academically, the largest part of this graduating semester was of course my thesis, for which I completed field research last summer in northern Haiti. This past semester was spent writing, editing, writing and finally getting the document to an academically acceptable place for my committee. The final product, entitled Community Environmental Preservation Initiatives in Borgne, Haiti can be found here http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/403/. Since I highly doubt that you’ll read the whole thing, I have pasted the abstract at the end of this post. Though many other non-professional/academic things have happened (mainly my robust interest in Cuban flowers), I will move on to my current position with SOIL.
Though I’ve written about SOIL previously, I will recap their work briefly but I of course encourage you to check out their website at www.oursoil.org. A new website is on its way soon but for now, there is much valuable information to be found there.
My own summary of SOIL and their work goes something like this…
Often times in developing countries, the basic necessities that we take for granted in the United States are lacking or altogether absent. This is the very unfortunate case in Haiti, where a large percentage of the population lacks access to public sanitation (i.e. toilets). Though this is especially true in the countryside, it is also true in some of Haiti’s poorest communities, where even before the earthquake there was no proper way to treat human waste. Since the earthquake, with such a large number of people displaced from their homes and living in tent communities, the public sanitation situation grew even more serious. While pit latrines or other types of toilets exist, there is no way for waste to be treated properly and so it is collected in large tanker trucks, hauled out to an area near the city dump and emptied into what are essentially ponds full of human waste. (Because of the graphic nature I won’t post images but this youtube video sums up the situation pretty well: http://bit.ly/nahpbT ).
--> ENTER S.O.I.L.
In ameliorating this problem, SOIL employs a unique type of toilet that takes human waste and turns it into nutrient rich fertilizer. By separating the urine (which is sterile and can safely be diverted into an underground gravel pit ground with no health hazard) and the feces, which is mixed with bagesse (a type of mulch that is a byproduct of the sugar cane that is used to make rum, in this case its from the makers of Barbancourt rum), the waste becomes an easily compostable damp mulch (that was a very long sentence but roll with it please…). The mulch is then taken to a separate compost site where it is concentrated in large bins for a few months. Concentrating a large amount of compost allows for enough heat generation kills too the harmful pathogens present within human waste (including Cholera). Though compost piles generally generate a great deal of heat, it’s typically even easier to generate heat in Haiti’s sub-tropical environment (I can personally attest to that as the sweat drips down my forehead while I write this). This New York Times video is a bit old but sums things up well…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb9AiHkhg5o
Finally, here is an article about our Executive Director Dr. Sasha Kramer, who was named one of National Geographic’s emerging explorers.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers/sasha-kramer/
I encourage you to check out their very important work and consider supporting SOIL in any way you are able. I certainly could not be more proud to work for such a fantastic organization. As a sort of cliff hanger I’ll leave a few of SOIL’s other amazing qualities for future posts. Let’s just say for now though that Kreyòl is the name of the game…
So, on a slightly more personal note, I can imagine that some of the family and friends network are probably wondering: “What are Craig’s living conditions in Port-au-Prince?” Well, if inquiring minds want to know, I’ll tell you…
SOIL has a very lovely two-story house that they rent in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. The upstairs serves as living quarters for some of the staff and the downstairs is a kitchen and the principal office area. Of course just about every nook and cranny is covered with potted plants of some kind (were a green organization!). The house has plumbing (water is pumped up to a tank on the roof from a well) and a few flush toilets but most of us prefer to use the household dry-compost toilet which is a much smaller version of the toilets described above.
With this model, a 5 gallon bucket handles the solid waste/bagesse mixture with the urine separated into a smaller container that is meant to be emptied daily. The house itself has very nice tile floors , many large windows and a huge wooden stairwell that curves up through the center of the house.
I will have more updates soon but it’s already been a long week and quite frankly the heat is killing me…
Please find the abstract of my thesis below.
All the best from Port-au-Prince,
Craig
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In examining the opportunities that lie within the larger context of Haitian development efforts, mending the strained environment upon which Haiti’s fragile rural agricultural sector depends must be a priority. Though related to other pieces of the Haitian reconstruction puzzle, the question of mending the Haitian environment comes down largely to the best way trees can be incorporated into Haiti’s existing agricultural systems. With this in mind, the purpose of this thesis was to complete an analysis of the work and practices of the community organizations of Borgne, Haiti. The organizations of Borgne have mobilized toward environmental development and the preservation of remaining natural resources through a community-wide tree-planting initiative that provides thousands of trees per year to local residents. Beyond an ethnographic assessment, this thesis explores greater implications of the project as a grassroots development model that may potentially be replicated by other communities and organizations throughout Haiti. Field research was completed on site in Borgne in the summer months of 2010. The primary methods employed in data collection were Participatory Action Research and semi-structured interviewing.
