At SAKALA in Haiti, what is one day a dream that seems crazy impossible, the next day is an action plan for a better future.
That is how Jaden Tap Tap, once the site of a dump among many dumps in Cité Soleil, became Haiti’s largest urban garden.
But SAKALA Haiti is not stopping there and SAKALA International is following its lead in creating models to take on Haiti’s — and the world’s — toughest problems.
Leader Daniel Tillias has created teams to expand SAKALA’s environmental mission with the creation of FatraKa.
In Haitian Creole, Fatra means trash and Ka means can, as in there is nothing we can’t do.
With the climate crisis upon us — and with Cité Soleil on the front lines — part of SAKALA International’s mission is to help further this vital environmental work.
This work includes:
— SAKALA Haiti’s recycled FatraKa art program where youth produce super cool and beautiful frames, cards, and other artwork using materials found in street dumps. This work is already available for sale in Haiti and will soon be available for shipment in the US.
— the creation of food/juice stands and other small enterprises where plastic bottles can be used as payment and then are collected and recycled to keep them from entering the ocean or clogging canals and causing flooding.
— the creation of Precious Plastic style workshop where plastic trash will be shredded, melted down, and then formed into useful products like planters (literally we hope to grow food from plastic trash).
— urban gardening and tree planting/agroforestry initiatives.
— manufacturing of organic products from the moringa tree, such as a nutritious powder supplement and pressed oil that is excellent for skin and hair care.
— compost production start-ups that will remove organic waste from the streets and transform it into a tool that can improve the soil, help prevent erosion and flooding, and sequester carbon to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis now and in the future.