As seen in Aspire Magazine (Blue Leaf Media Ltd) September 2019
We in the UK love a bit of toilet humour – but for billions of people, the lack of a safe toilet is no laughing matter. Without proper sanitation, families fall sick, can’t work or go to school – and become trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, debt and disease.
THE FACTS…
· 2.3 billion people still don’t have access to basic sanitation. That’s one in three people globally!
· Worldwide, more than 2 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases.
· A child under five dies of disease linked to dirty water and poor sanitation every two minutes.
· 844 million people don’t have clean water close to home.
Through unique and quirky fundraising campaigns, UK charity Toilet Twinning exploits lavatorial humour and raises funds for lifesaving loos, clean water and hygiene education in some of the world’s poorest, most remote communities. The scheme invites you to twin your loo with a latrine overseas, and in doing so help a family living in poverty have a proper toilet for the first time.
In return for a £60 donation, you can twin your household or workplace toilet with a latrine overseas – and so sponsor a toilet for a family living in poverty. You’ll receive a certificate with a photo of your twin and more information on how your donation makes a difference.
“Toilet Twinning is all about empowering poorer communities overseas to find their way out of poverty. It works through local partners to teach communities why proper sanitation and good hygiene are so important – then train families to build their own toilets. The end goal is creating ownership so people will want to keep using their toilet. As the health of the whole community starts to improve, less money is spent on medicines and more time is available to work and to farm; children are able to go to school and get an education. Having a toilet enables families to take a first big step out of generational poverty.” says Toilet Twinning CEO Lorraine Kingsley.
“It’s always wonderful to see how proud people are of their toilets knowing that they’ve created something tangible that will have a dramatic effect on their health and quality of life,” continues Lorraine, “‘and our twinners in the UK like the fact that their donation translates into something immensely practical and life-changing!”
Since Toilet Twinning began in 2010, it has twinned more than 107,700 toilets and funded projects in 30 countries.
To find out how you can get involved, visit www.toilettwinning.org
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave several hundred million dollars to scientists across the globe as part of the ‘Reinvent The Toilet Challenge’, encouraging scientists to work on new toilet designs which don’t require standard plumbing and sewage systems. To find out more, search Bill Gates’s Re-Poopable Energy on Facebook Videos.
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