Hello,
Today's post is a bit of a different one, as some of you may know its World Toilet Day 19th November 2013 (if you did not know now you know!). Why in the world is there a world toilet day? I mean seriously it's such a simple thing, we don't need to dedicate a day to it......right?
Well actually, we do. We REALLY do need to dedicate a day to such a matter because unfortunately an estimate of 2.5 billion people do not have a clean toilet -and no, its not because they are dirty and cannot be asked to clean. 2.5 BILLION! That is such a significant number, that is 1 in 3 people that do not have access to proper sanitation, a clean toilet and sanitation is a human right, that needs to be available for all. 2.5 BILLION needs to be 0.
Living in the first world means that a toilet is not a luxury, it is a basic thing to have. For 2.5 billion people a normal toilet is what Kanye's toilet sounds like to us, a luxury. In my house I have been blessed with 3 toilets, a dream truly come true... This is like most people in this country, this is nothing special, it simply means I fit into society. However do I really need 3 toilets in one house? the answer is no, no I don't- I may have thought that I did a few months ago but now I see that I really don't.
During my time in Mbokotwana I witnessed this lack of sanitation and access to proper plumbing, Mbokotwana does not have a great plumbing system, there are a few taps located in the area one at the spaza shop, one by the school, another by the church, and one by the roadside (there where a few more but these are the ones that where in my specific area). People did not have access to taps in their yard - or houses- unless they had the money to build one, about 1 in 50 people had taps in their yards.
Unfortunately we did not have one in our yard so everyday we had to collect water from the local spaza shop (independent corner shop), this was a tiring and stressful process that required our little household to have a water collection rota. Our water reserve was in our house and we would fill up a 100 litre drum/tub with water and we would use a 25 litre bucket to do this. Now this required numerous trips to the spaza shop that was luckily a minute walk opposite our house however adding 25 liters to the minute it turned into a 20 minute task - a month later we eventually found two 25 litre tanks and a wheel burrow and our water collection was made easier.
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| Phumla (housemate and volunteer) on her water collection day |
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| some of the girls carrying water in buckets on their heads |
The water collection was manageable however because there was a lack of plumbing it meant that we also did not have access to proper toilets. This issue right here affected me ALOT, it was the most challenging thing for me. Now I'm a Zimbabwean girl that has not always had access to a proper toilet however it was for short periods of my childhood. It did not affect me much but I have never really liked long drops etc. Our 'toilet' was a dug out, basically a hole in the far side of the yard (an outside toilet), it had a toilet seat made out of polished rectangular clay situated on wooden planks and surrounded by rusty metal pieces that barely kept it together when windy or rainy.
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| Toilet next to a busy pathway |
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| The glorious seat |
This 'toilet' made me appreciate my time with luxury toilets, it made me appreciate the simple flush. It made me realise that it was a temporary situation, a situation for the summer but a permanent situation for the residents of Mbokotwana. I felt selfish and conceited when I could not have a peaceful 'poop' because someone was casually walking by the road and they might hear me fart, I felt conceited that I hated this toilet so much that I was ready to leave and take any offer of using a proper toilet. I felt selfish about having three toilets in my house that I didn't care for until now and I felt truly blessed that i had access to such a luxury.
It is about time that we raise awareness on such issues, everyone needs access to such basic things, everyone should enjoy going to the toilet, everyone should have toilet paper, everyone should be able to flush, everyone should be able to use the toilet in their own house. Everyone should have access to a CLEAN toilet.
If you want to find out more then click the following links:
www.worldtoiletday.org
https://www.un.org/en/events/toiletday/
http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/infobank/Sanitation
follow @worldtoiletday on twitter to find out more and use the hashtags #IGIVEASHIT #ToiletsForAll
Peace and Love
Ruth Mapanda
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