A Month of Delay

After a month of delay, One Truck was able to revisit our "toilets for tilory" sanitation project in Haiti, North-East.
We met with our Givelove sanitation team partners to assess the existing toilets, collect compost data, and execute refresher training for our compost pile managers. (visit Givelove at www.givelove.org) We retrieved basic supplies in Dajabon and reunited in Tilory. We were greeted by Ti-Ti and many the Tilory compost managers; a tour revealed that all 4 toilets and the two piles we built in October (see video; toilets for tilory) were running smoothly; the "Hilltop" community dual-toilet above the clinic had been re-located. We were told that despite community support, the toilet had been sabotaged by the wife of the local manager. She was alleged to steal materials from the toilets, and fill them to overflowing to prevent their proper use. The community re-erected the dual outhouse further down the hill where they continue to be well managed and happily utilized.

Since our last visit, there are 3 additional toilets. The Givelove team had added 2 "luggable loo" style toilets; one in the market and one to an older pile manager who had trained with us in compost management. The third toilet was built by the community, by there own initiative. By using scrap and repurposed materials, they built a single 5 gallon throne room and a totally new compost pile. I felt like this was a huge show of support from the community- and a solid dose of leadership from our managers.

We visited the original toilets at Joel's and the casino; also at the disco. The toilets at Joel are very clean and well managed. There are no signs of flies- but we notice ants. Probably a result of raw food scraps being tossed in the toilet bowl or sawdust. As with the other toilets, these are low on toilet paper and the hand washing stations are a mess- this is a consistent challenge; something we need to rectify. The Disco toilet is a little smelly- but it's hard to tell if it's maybe the pit latrine that we built on top of (we discussed filling it with sawdust- but never did). In addition, the perimeter of the disco fencing smells strongly of urine. The drinkers at the disco are said to be too lazy to wait to pee in the toilet- we suspect that no one wants to have to Walk the full bucket down over the hill in the dark to dump it either; urine soaks the sawdust- its heavier and fills faster.

In order to rectify the existing challenges, we decide to do the following;

• purchase several months worth of supplies for toilets
• fix the hand washing stations
• purchase tarps and chicken wire to cover the new, uncovered piles
• create a urinal for the disco

The following day we were able to deliver on these items. See the creation of the recycled material urinal here (video)

On our third day we ran an additional education seminar. I was disappointed that we seem to lose our women volunteers; we are down to one, from our original 4 female volunteers.

Regardless, Rodrigo and Pierre did some further education, and we fielded requests for additional toilets.
After deliberating, we decide not to add more toilets at this time. Until we can verify the compost viability we don't feel like creating more toilets is sustainable.

On our next trip, we will plan to collect compost samples and check for coliforms. We wil also look for more direction from local agronomist to target beta test crops for the new compost.

More photos and video to come;
-cosmo