Thanks to you my summer internship in Haiti was exceedingly successful! It was a mind-opening experience that provided me with invaluable insight into what work I want to dedicate my future career to. Among the countless projects I worked on while I was there, I was able to organize a free medical clinic for children in the community of Shada. I worked closely with a youth group on a photo empowerment project which gave me incredible insight into the daily lives and struggles of the youth in Shada. We built four dry toilets in the time I was there where I was able to participate in community education on ecologically sustainable technology.

This upcoming spring break I am leading SOIL’s first ever Alternative Spring Break in Haiti. Since I’ve returned to school in California I’ve been appointed as the Student Outreach Coordinator for SOIL. With my new position in the organization I am now leading my own group of students to Haiti to work with SOIL and build a dry toilet for a community. Our group of seven can hardly wait to get to Haiti and start our ecological sanitation project! During our time in Haiti we will participate in the following activities:

• Construction of a community ecological sanitation system. Students will have a chance to help with both project implementation and community outreach.
• Interactions with local government officials, including meetings with the mayors of Milot, Borgne and Cap Haitien. We will discuss both the positive and negative roles that international organizations have played with regards to local governments.
• A visit to Shada (an overcrowded urban slum in Cap Haitien) with discussion of the special challenges of urban development. We will meet with several local grassroots NGO’s to get a better sense of community identified priorities.
• Visit the Village of Labadi where SOIL has constructed 4 large public ecological toilets. Labadi is also the site where Royal Caribbean cruiselines has a private beach, the largest site for tourist activity in the country. This visit will allow students to evaluate the effects of tourism from both environmental and social perspectives.

I hope that you join us in making our project possible. Your support will greatly contribute to making this life-changing experience a reality for all of us.

To make a tax deductable donation, please go to www.oursoil.org to easily make a donation online through PayPal. Or you can make a check out to SOIL and mail it to: 124 Church Rd. Sherburne, NY 13460. To ensure that your donation goes directly to funding our specific project, please specify it is for Ashley by writing my name on the check or PayPal order.