World Toilet Day
19-Nov-2011
On Saturday, 19th November, Sr. Gwyn and Sr. Vianney lobbied their local Labour MP, Mark Tami.
Their aim? To get more of the government’s 0.7% commitment to international aid spent on the provision of clean water, sanitation and hygiene, and to get Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development to attend next April in Washington the High Level meeting on Sanitation and Water.
Both Sisters felt passionate about the issue as diarrhoea, the direct result of lack of sanitation and hygiene, causes two million deaths globally each year. The mortality rate from diarrhoea is more than that of malaria, Aids and measles together. 884 million people don’t have access to clean water.
Sr. Gwyn highlighted the tragedy of children dying of diarrhoea before their fifth birthday. The tragedy is that so many deaths from diarrhoea are easily preventable. Sr. Vianney urged action to provide toilets for women who, unlike men and boys who use the streets, suffer the indignity of having to walk miles to the bush and once dusk falls they face danger from snakes and scorpions.
With toilets so plentiful in our country and our homes can we imagine life without them? Mark Tami promised action!