Category: Inspiring

These Haitian siblings ― residents of Pierre Payen, Haiti ― are beaming with pride. They were the first.

The first home in Friendship Village with no flying insects spreading dangerous diseases to their family.

Also, the first residents in their village to live free from a latrine stench pervading their living quarters.

The first family in Haiti to have a revolutionary SaTo sanitary toilet pan installed in their home. And have their quality of life forever improved. On July 11, 2014, this Haitian banana harvester, Edline, and her family became owners of the first SaTo hygienic toilet pan installed in the Western Hemisphere.

The SaTo sanitary toilet pan was invented by plumbing manufacturer American Standard Brands initially for use in rural Bangladesh. It closes off pit latrines from the open air, reducing the transmission of disease via air-borne insects. Here in this village in Haiti, half a world away from Bangladesh, the SaTo toilet pan serves the same purpose.

With several small children, this household ― located 90 miles outside the island nation’s capital of Port o Prince ― was in desperate need of an improved sanitation device. Like most residents, this family was using an open latrine when going to the bathroom. Located inside their home, the latrine emitted an unpleasant odor while allowing insects to easily come into contact with the human waste. This led to the spread of disease from the pathogens transmitted from the insects to the family members.

Nearly all of the villagers attended this historic SaTo installation. It symbolized an important step forward in improving sanitation in a nation still reconstructing two years after this devastating natural disaster. Aside from learning about the SaTo pan’s benefits, residents were educated on basic plumbing tips. They were instructed how to keep all open sewer lines tightly capped and extend the latrine vent well above the roof line of their homes.This initial SaTo pan was installed by American Standard’s Jim McHale, Ph.D., who serves as the Company’s global sanitation products business unit leader. McHale accompanied volunteers from Plumbers Without Borders to Haiti in July 2014 to determine if the SaTo pans would be useful in improving sanitation facilities in that country. He visited with 40 families in Friendship Village, a community developed and built by NGO Food for the Poor to provide shelter for the victims of the 2010 Haitian earthquake.

In 2014, American Standard will be donating more than 7,900 SaTo pans for use in homes, schools and tent cities in Haiti. Food for the Poor will assist with the pan distribution to villages throughout the nation. This effort will help Haiti’s residents rebuild with safer sanitation facilities and an improved quality of life, one SaTo at a time.

SaTo™ is a registered trademark of American Standard Brands.

Source: SaTo Stories: SaTo Toilet Pan Brings Safe Sanitation to Rural Haiti

Watch this video about Fred’s trip to Haiti and the installation of the first SATO in the Western Hemisphere.

Debra Judge Silber, of Fine Homebuilding Magazine, recently sat down with Fred Schilling for an insightful interview about his work and altruistic efforts. Fred is a VP of Plumbers Without Borders and has made a name for himself as not only a master plumber but also as caring individual who is not afraid to get his hands dirty for the greater good.

He’s plumbed luxury homes, commercial buildings, and a water park. Now he’s bringing clean water—and the skills needed to keep it flowing—to Haiti.

Read the full interview

Fred Schilling returns to an improving but still tenuous situation in island nation struggling to bounce back from natural disaster.
As Haiti struggles to recover from the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people and devastated much of the nation’s infrastructure, the effort continues to provide residents there with safe drinking water.

Last May, plumber Fred Schilling spent a week in Haiti teaching plumbing workshops and helping students from Haiti Tec install a water-purification system from start to finish. The system had been designed and donated by Water World Partners, a student group at Seattle University.

Read the full article

Returning from a life-changing journey to Ethiopia, along with a diverse team of volunteer doctors, and medical professionals from the Seattle Anesthesia Outreach (SAO), Fred Volkers and Domenico DiGregorio embarked on the initial phase of implementing several plumbing infrastructure improvements in local medical facilities.
As we described in our last post, the unthinkable conditions at Black Lion hospital in Addis Ababa, as well as the urgent need for a Dialysis facility in a nearby hospital, captured our attention, both from a human standpoint, but especially as plumbers….we knew we could make a difference.

Standing face-to-face with many hopeful dialysis patients, who we knew would die without this life-saving equipment, our quest was clear and our resolve strengthened.

Thanks to Fred Volkers and Stirrett Johnsen Mechanical Contractors (Seattle), arrangements are underway for procuring the equipment needed to build and set up a shipping container-ized dialysis facility, which can be installed (plug & play) upon arrival to Ethiopia.

Read Dom’s letter about his trip

It may not be the most glamorous job, but it’s certainly one of the most important: bringing in the water and moving out the waste. “Plumbers Without Borders” are bringing basic needs to people in need around the world and doing a dirty job for free.