Shut that door!

Many parents of small children find the constant demands of their young ones can sometimes get a bit trying. The final straw can often be the inability to go to the toilet, shut and lock the door, and claim a few minutes peace and privacy.  

For millions of people in the world, there is never any privacy for these daily bodily functions. Open defecation is their only option.  So along with improved health and hygiene, twinning your toilet with a latrine overseas is an act that can bestow a more intangible - but arguably no less important - benefit:  a private space to respond to the call of nature.

A room without a view: Ugandan toilets with doors that shut.
Photo: Vernon Kingsley/Toilet Twinning

Different cultures, of course, have different attitudes to privacy, and the need for privacy also varies between individuals.  Many of us will know the irritation of having our personal space invaded, for example when someone stands ‘too close for comfort’ while talking to you.  Others are happy to put almost all their emotions and actions out on social media.

And where does our need for privacy end and the negativity of loneliness begin?  A high-rise close-the-door culture where relationships become increasingly virtual, accessed through technology rather than face to face, is not a comfortable vision for the future.  

But wherever we would draw our personal line between the private and the public, there are some actions that we would all prefer to do behind closed doors, given the choice.

In her autobiography ‘Daughter of the River’,  Hong Ying describes her youthful experience of communal latrines in 20th century China. Defecation, she said, was  ‘no easy matter, with all those eyes fixed on your exposed private parts...Standing in the queue made me nervous;  so did the squatting itself.’  Constipation became a way of life.

She would use a book or a bag to gain a little privacy, but that brought its own problems: ‘I didn’t want people in the queue thinking I was intentionally shielding my private parts from view.  The last thing I wanted was for those sharp-tongued gossipy women to start saying I had some kind of problem. What did I have that was so great that I wouldn’t let them see it?’

Modern-day public toilets in Beijing, China. At home, toilet facilities are less likely to be shared.

Public toilets without doors are still common in China, but the massive home building programme has brought private facilities to many if not most.  And an occasional use of doorless cubicles, with their rudimentary but welcome plumbing, is one thing. But a daily quest for a private piece of ground, or having to delay defecation until darkness arrives, is quite another.   

Many people in the world’s poorest countries (a club to which China emphatically does not belong) face this reality.  That’s why, when you twin your toilet you are giving a wonderful gift. You are helping people to understand about hygiene, handwashing and the dangers of open defecation for sure;  you are certainly helping them gain the skills to construct latrines; but you are also giving them the blessed relief of little bit of privacy every day of their lives.

Camera-Khazi

Photographer Richard Hanson talks about his obsession with photographing toilets, and his recent assignment in Ethiopia for Toilet Twinning:

Toilet Twinning's advertisement as it appeared in National Geographic magazine

Working all over the UK as a freelance photographer, I’ve noticed hundreds of public toilets have been closed over the past 20 years. I started taking photos of these tiny, quirky monuments to civic pride and convenience. I’ve pulled over at the side of busy dual carriageways and even turned the car around while on a tight deadline just so I don’t miss some gem.

But there’s a tension between my strange obsession with photographing semi-derelict public toilets, and the seriousness of some of the things I’ve seen while I’ve been working overseas.

The first time I really realised how crucial the lack of a good toilet can be was when I travelled to the refugee camps in Goma (then in Zaire, but now known as Democratic Republic of Congo) during the genocide in Rwanda, in 1994. Because the camps were being built on solidified lava fields, no one could dig pit latrines, and in the first week or ten days of the refugees’ arrival, more than 30,000 people died of cholera caused by the appallingly insanitary conditions.

On a recent trip to Ethiopia for Toilet Twinning, my brief was to get a spectacular shot of a toilet in a rural setting. It had to be something that would be good enough to run as a Toilet Twinning advertisement in the National Geographic magazine.

On the first day we found a rather nice latrine near a group of houses, with a view across to the other side of the valley. We agreed that it was worth coming back to catch the latrine in the golden rays of glorious dawn light.  So, stretching the good will of our hosts to the limit, we set off at 5am the next morning, and hiked a mile across the (rather steep) valley.  

We set up the photographic kit in a field with a lovely clear view of the latrine, but instead of the stunning mist-cresting dawn of my dreams, we had an almost English murky greyness. Just the flattest light you can imagine. But we’d come a long way, and this was a shot we’d put a lot of planning into, so we all just waited.  And waited.  And hunkered down against what was in fact a rather damp and cold morning, hoping that the farmer whose field we were in was going to be understanding when he got there, praying a little that the light would change.

I made us wait for over two hours, and finally the sun broke through for around 60 seconds.  It was a beautiful moment but, unfortunately, not one that ever really worked on camera.  The pictures were very lovely landscape shots, nice views of village life in the early morning, but there was nothing that made them clearly ‘toilet’ shots, to tell the story.

So, back to the drawing board. Thankfully, there was a plan B.  Back home I’d been practising shooting a friend’s shed, in the snow at night, to see if I could make something a bit special happen with an old lighting trick.  It had seemed to work in Sheffield, but would it work in Hossana, Ethiopia?

The original photo (c) Richard Hanson/Toilet Twinning

I’ve been photographing and reporting on development issues for over twenty years now, covering tragedies such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the civil war in Sudan, through to wonderfully uplifting stories of hope in Bolivia and Cambodia. But I’ve never had so many emails, texts and Facebook messages as I received about the Toilet Twinning photo taken in Ethiopia. People got in touch saying they’d seen the picture on the door of a portable toilet at the New Wine festival, or at a motorway service station, and thousands more will have seen the advertisement in National Geographic.   
So now, finally, I am famous in my own little world, not for one of the world-changing news events I’ve covered, but for my picture of a toilet. And really, I think I can live with that.

You can read more about how Richard Hanson set up the shot at his blog
You can see his photographic project on public toilets here

Thank you letter straight from our heart

Here at Toilet Twinning we’ve got lots to be thankful for, and it’s all down to you, our supporters.  So instead of writing a letter to Santa at the North Pole, we’re putting a virtual pen to paper to say a resounding 'Thank You' to you all.

Letters in the post: US Christmas postage stamp depicting a mail box, issued on 21 October 1977

Back in November, we set out to encourage 50 generous people to twin their toilets on World Toilet Day, 19 November.  Not only did you smash this record for us by about half way through the day, but by midnight we’d received 96 twinning requests!  

Generous gifts: Faroese stamp illustrating a traditional Christmas counting song. The gifts include: one feather, two geese, three sides of meat, four sheep, five cows, six oxen, seven dishes, eight ponies, nine banners and ten barrels

This month, generosity has overtaken you once again.  Twins to date are more than 30% up on the same period last year.  That’s a huge increase at a time when we know many people are planning a relatively frugal Christmas.

What's in the toe of the stocking? Christmas stamp issued by South Korea, 1960

In fact you are now not far short of having twinned 20,000 toilets (we’re expecting to be able to make that announcement next month), which is a brilliant result when you consider it was only July when you passed the 15,000 milestone.  

Like an Angel: Two Christmas stamps from Ukraine, with a Kiev postmark

Don’t forget you can still twin toilets for last-minute presents, by downloading a voucher.  The framed certificates will follow in the post.  

Presenting gifts: Postage stamp issued by Latvia in 1992 depicting the Christmas nativity: The Wise Men visit Jesus

But in the meantime, feel pleased with yourselves, and THANK YOU!

Aid DOES make a difference

Why not mark World Toilet Day, 19 November, by twinning a toilet you use - maybe in your office, or somewhere you visit like a cinema or cafe? It’s a great way to get the Toilet Twinning message out so that more people can help flush away poverty.

These stories from Ethiopia and Uganda spell out the benefits of having a clean, decent and accessible loo - something that 2.5 billion people worldwide are still without.

‘Before we had a toilet, we were not interested in working in the fields, because the smell was pungent and the field was full of excrement,’ says Amanuel from Ethiopia.

Amanuel and his wife Meselech with their two daughters and their latrine [photo: Richard Hanson/Toilet Twinning]

Now he and his wife Meselech cultivate cabbage, potato, tomato, carrots, beetroot and false banana to feed their family. What’s more, their two daughters have never suffered from diarrhoea.  

The reason? Toilet Twinning funded Ethiopia’s Kale Heywet Church to show the couple how to build a latrine using local materials. They also gave them training and advice on keeping their bodies, house and compound healthy and hygienic, stressing the importance of using soap and clean water.  

‘After the toilet was built, our environment became clean and we wanted to work.’ says Amanuel, adding ‘Now, we are in the field and get fresh air. We are much healthier. My compound is clean. It makes me want to be productive.’

William and Annette Nkwansibwe from Uganda also have a new latrine, which they built themselves, using materials found around their property and sticks they could buy locally.

William and Annette Nkwansibwe [photo Vernon Kingsley/Toilet Twinning]

But the real difference in their lives now is that they also have the knowledge to go with the latrine: they know they need to keep their latrine enclosed and to wash their hands. They also know they need to keep their cleaning and drinking water separate.

Now they rarely get sick.

This gift of knowledge, this fresh confidence, came through Toilet Twinning’s Ugandan partner the Diocese of Kigezi, which has been running its water and sanitation programme in Kabale district for more than 35 years.

Through Toilet Twinning funding, the Diocese of Kigezi were also able to teach Ugandan mother Vivien Birunga to build a latrine.  They added in hygiene and handwashing education too. 'I don't need to borrow money to pay for medicine since having my latrine and learning about hygiene,' she says. A little bit of knowledge has saved Vivien an awful lot of money. More than that, it’s given her dignity and hope.

Thank you for supporting Toilet Twinning.

World Toilet Day, 19 November

Guerrilla Twinning Puts a Tiger in the Toilet

Skelmersdale’s St Paul’s Church of England Church is indulging in a bit of friendly fire for this year’s World Toilet Day, 19 November.  The church, which has already twinned its own loos with latrines in Burundi, is now spearheading some ‘guerrilla twinning’ of toilets in its local community.  A harvest festival collection of £500, made into a toilet bowl naturally, kicked off the fundraising activities which have also included a screening of the film ‘Flushed Away’.

Chris Spittle gets close to a tiger in a toilet at The Jungle soft play area

Reverend Chris Spittle, vicar of St Paul’s, explained the reason behind this unusual activity: ‘Toilet Twinning is a great way to strengthen our links with the community while doing something tangible to help people overseas, and the way that it has all snowballed is rather incredible.’  

More than 15,000 people in the UK have already twinned their toilets, but St Paul’s Church is bringing a new twist to the idea.  Church members drew up a ‘hitlist’ of loos in their local community which they wanted to donate Toilet Twinning certificates to, and then voted for their favourites.

Young people from St Paul's vote for their favourite Skelmersdale places to be added to the 'hitlist' for guerrilla twinning

‘When we approached our “targets” to ask their permission some thought that we were asking them to pay, which actually they were willing to do, so we had to explain that St Paul’s was doing this as a gift to them,’ said Mr Spittle.

Judging by the reaction so far, the idea is going down a storm.  The town’s Ecumenical Centre,  The Greenhill Community Hub, and Trinity Church of England/Methodist Primary School in Kiln Lane, are all accepting twins with latrines overseas.  Asda supermarket in Ingram, The Jungle soft play area in Westgate, and West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper, are also delighted to be on St Paul’s invitation list.  

‘Everyone has been really enthusiastic and loved the idea and most of the recipients are now talking about twinning the rest of their toilets.’ Mr Spittle said, adding: ‘Our church Beavers, Cubs and Scouts suggested doing a sponsored sit on the toilet in the foyer of Asda.  The Asda staff liked the idea so much, they’re talking about doing the same thing so that they can twin all of their staff toilets.’    

Beavers, Cubs and Scouts start their fundraising 'toilet sit' in the foyer of Asda Skelmersdale
(all photos: St Paul's Skelmersdale)

Helen Broady, Community Life Champion for Asda Skelmersdale, explained why the church’s gift had spurred them to make more latrine links: 'It's a privilege to accept the toilet twinning, because we do a lot of work in the local community but this gives us the chance to do something international. It's a great way for us to reach farther afield.'

Undercarriage Urgency

Four out of 10 public toilets are reported to have closed in the past decade, increasing our collective fear of being ‘caught short’.  And aside from embarrassment, there could be more serious implications for those with existing health issues who urgently need a private pit stop.  

What’s more, The Stroke Association’s Dr Clare Walton, says ‘not being able to empty your bladder could potentially cause a temporary increase in blood pressure which could put some individuals at risk of stroke.'    

Few and far between: public toilets, such as this roadside example, are a rarity in Ethiopia.
Could the UK be going the same way?
Photo: Louise Thomas/Tearfund

Other recent news has highlighted the shocking truth that ‘flying care’ has become so swift that housebound dependent people are having to choose between asking for a drink or a toilet visit in the care provider’s turnaround time.

Meanwhile, many health professionals, from urologists to bowel cancer specialists, expend considerable effort to get us to open up about our undercarriage problems and get abnormalities checked out sooner rather than later.

Of course, most of us in the developed world are blessed with good healthcare and access to private toilets most of the time.  In the world’s poorer countries this is unlikely to be the case for many people.  Consider being a mother who can’t hold urine or bowel content owing to fistula (a hole between the birth passage and an internal organ such as the bladder or rectum, caused by complications in labour)  or a child with diarrhoea, or an elderly person with low mobility and a weak bladder - and not having access to a latrine.

But perhaps between us we can harness our health fears, our social embarrassment fears, our professional knowledge of healthcare, or our love of fitness and exercise and channel these energies into spreading the word about Toilet Twinning.  And maybe if you work in the health field, whether for the NHS, a private health provider or a fitness organisation such as a health or

sports club, you could start fundraising to twin a toilet?

Doing the defecation walk

You don’t imagine, when you send your child off to school in the morning, that they are going to spend the afternoon doing a ‘defecation walk’.  But that’s just what happened to pupils from Teddington’s St Mary’s and St Peter’s CE Primary School at the end of the summer term.

Doing the defecation walk.  [all photos Louise Thomas/Tearfund]

The school, which is situated opposite Tearfund’s HQ, has enthusiastically taken up the Toilet Twinning challenge and aims to twin all 43 of their loos. So Tearfund’s water and sanitation expert, Frank Greaves, thought they should be treated to some insider knowledge.   

Setting out his collection of plastic poo (sourced from a local joke shop) in Tearfund’s sunny courtyard, he invited his visitors to consider the hazards of open defecation.  Fortunately, the model faeces were not so realistic as to attract the London bluebottle brigade.  But Mr Greaves had strategically sited them next to children’s toys, a water source and some food, to explain the risks to his fascinated crowd.

Poo and play: not a good mix

Moving swiftly on, he challenged the visitors to a bit of maths while getting their hands wet.  His scheme was to allow the nine pupils to wash their hands in a variety of ways: with a standard tap, a watering can, water from a jerry can fitted with a tap, or a tippy tap.  This last is a small water-filled jerry can suspended from a branch or post, with a hole in its lid.  Lacking a branch, Mr Greaves had seconded what looked like a keyboard stand, but it did the job and added a certain something to the sense of rhythm. Tipping the can lid downwards allows a small quantity of water to come out, while letting go rights the balance and saves the remaining water.  Sophisticated models can be tipped by means of a treadle on a string, with soap on another string alongside.

Tip up that tippy tap

Naturally, this being a learning experience, the quantity of water used for each hand washing method had to be recorded on a clipboard.

And here are the results:

Water source for hand washing	Average quantity of water used per person
Tap	1300 ml
Watering can	500 ml
Jerry can with tap	325 ml
Tippy tap	150 ml

So the tippy tap was the clear winner, which is just as well because it has the best name.  But only a wild optimist or maybe an extreme kind of eco warrior would expect us all to rig tippy taps up in UK homes. Instead, here’s a tip: when hand washing, wet your hands, switch the tap off while you soap them and switch it on again to rinse.   It’s a tippy tappy-esque way to reduce consumption for those of us without the real thing.

But back in the sunny courtyard, Mr Greaves had a serious message to impart to the nine from over the road.  He wanted them to know that understanding why you are doing something helps you to adopt it wholeheartedly, no matter whether you are in London or Liberia.

So when Toilet Twinning gets alongside people in communities overseas where there is no proper sanitation, it invites them to question traditionally-held beliefs and customs.  There is no need for plastic poo for the defecation walks because there is plenty of the real thing.  And flies a-go-go. People are challenged to consider how much time they spend collecting water and what they could be doing instead, such as growing food or going to school.  They are introduced to the connection between a lack of decent sanitation and diarrhoea, a major cause of child mortality in our world.  And they already know how costly medicines are, but they need to gain a realistic hope of good health.

And the result is they are brought to a place where they want to put time into building latrines or improving access to clean water - for example by using water filters - which they will manage and maintain.  Knowledge is power wherever you are!

If you have connections with a school, why not ask if you can give a Toilet Twinning talk using our assembly plan and resources - including our popular poo stickers - here: www.toilettwinning.org/resources/