Senior School Assembly You can add to your talk with these resources available on our website: A PowerPoint of good and bad toilets around the world Shocking statistics in the serious stuff section Toilet Twinning 90 second film in What is Toilet Twinning? A short history of the toilet in the XXXXXX section And you can ask us to send you: A Toilet Twinning t-shirt Sheets of fun stickers to give out Senior School Assembly

Can you imagine life without loos? 2.4 billion people in the world don’t have anywhere safe, clean or hygienic to go to the loo. That’s 40% of the world’s population. Can you imagine life without loos? What would you do when you needed to go? At home….at school.   Would you use a bucket….go out to a bush somewhere? Go in a river, so at least it’s not sitting around stinking all day? What if water is scarce where you live and you have to walk for hours to find water to drink? Will you use that water just to wash your hands? What if the poo runs into the river, and you drink the water from the river? What if no-one has ever told you that poo is full of germs that make you sick? 2.5 billion people in the world don’t have anywhere safe, clean or hygienic to go to the loo. That’s 40% of the world’s population.

Loos save lives The humble loo has done more to rid us of infectious disease than the best medicines, even antibiotics or vaccinations. Without a loo in our homes and schools to safely dispose of poo, we’d still be living in a brutal age of cholera, dysentery, typhus and typhoid fever – to say nothing of bubonic plague. Loos save lives The humble loo has done more to rid us of infectious disease than the best medicines, even antibiotics or vaccinations.   Without a loo in our homes and schools to safely dispose of poo, we’d still be living in a brutal age of cholera, dysentery, typhus and typhoid fever—to say nothing of bubonic plague. 

The problem with poo There are about one billion germs per gram of poo. That’s less than a teaspoon. Even the smallest amount can leave millions of germs on your hands. The problem with poo Scientists say that ‘faecal matter’ or poo, is one of the most dangerous substances around. It can survive on hands and surfaces for hours.   There are about one billion germs per gram of poo. That’s less than a teaspoon. Even the smallest amount can leave millions of germs on your hands. The British Olympic Association warned Team GB athletes not to shake hands during the London games in 2012 in case they caught a bug that might ruin their chances of success. The UN says washing hands is the most cost-effective intervention for the worldwide control of disease. It estimates hand washing could save more than a million lives a year.

The difference a loo makes In Ethiopia, Tadelech’s eight children were constantly sick The difference a loo makes In Ethiopia, Tadelech was one of those 2.5 billion people without a loo. Her eight children were constantly sick, and she spent what little money she had on expensive medicines to try and make them better.   Then some people came and told her how important toilets were to stop her kids getting sick. They showed her how to build a lasting latrine using local materials, and told her how important it was to wash their hands with soap after going to the toilet and before eating.

She learnt about the link between sanitation and health and built a toilet for her family Now the money that they used to spend on medicine goes towards her children’s schooling. She can pay for their clothes and good food.   She says this, “Before, it was very bad. We were desperate. We thought we would die because of the disease. We are living very happily now. We believe we will live a long life.” Something as simple as a loo, saves lives.

It stinks! Every minute, three children under the age of 5 die because of dirty water and poor sanitation. It’s a really big problem. But there’s a really easy answer. And we can help! It stinks! Every minute, three children under the age of 5 die because of dirty water and poor sanitation.   More than 50% of hospital beds in developing countries have people who are sick with an illness caused by poor sanitation – that is no loo or dirty water. In Africa, half, of the young girls who drop out of school do so because they need to collect water – often from miles away – or because the school hasn’t got separate toilets for boys and girls. It’s a really big problem. But there’s a really easy answer. And we can help!

So what can we do to help? We can twin toilets! By twinning your toilet, you help those in desperate poverty to have access to a proper latrine, clean water and the information they need to be healthy.  Toilet Twinning is raising funds to enable people living in poor communities to have clean water, a decent toilet, and to learn about hygiene – a vital combination that prevents the spread of disease, reduces the number of deaths among children, and brings hope for the future.   For a £60 donation, you can twin your toilet at home, work, school or church with a latrine in: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Democrstic Republic of Congo, India, Liberia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sieraa Leone, Uganda and Zambia. When you twin your toilet you’ll receive a certificate of your toilet's twin, containing a photo, the latrine's location and its GPS coordinates so you can look it up on google maps. Your donation is used by to enable local communities to learn about the difference a toilet will make to their lives. When families work together to install water pumps, build toilets, and learn about basic hygiene, the health of the whole community improves: parents are able to work in their fields and grow crops; children are able to go to school and get an education.