Change lives. Build a loo.
“It used to be so hard for us as women. But now that is just a story we talk about. We are 4 years free from diarrhoea. Because we have sanitation facilities we are safe physically, socially and mentally. “
– Kashweka Sifuwe, Zambia
You can help more people build toilets, so there’s less disease at home, so kids can keep learning and adults can keep earning.
*What does safely managed sanitation mean?
Using hygienic toilet facilities that are not shared with other households and where excreta is either separated from human contact and safely disposed of or transported and treated off-site, thereby protecting people and the environment from disease agents. WHO/UNICEF
Why Toilets
For health
Without safely managed sanitation families have to go to the toilet outside in the open, and untreated human waste gets out into the environment, contaminating water sources and spreading disease.
For safety and dignity
Women and girls often wait to go to the toilet outside when it’s dark leaving them vulnerable to being attacked. Having nowhere to deal with your period privately is distressing and 1 in 10 girls in Africa miss school during menstruation.
For children
In Zambia and Mozambique 30 children under 5 die every single day due to diarrhoea, an easily treatable disease. Regularly falling ill causes children to miss school too often, reducing the opportunities available to them in later life.
For productivity
Poor sanitation leads to regular illness, which leaves people too tired, or too sick to earn a wage and provide for their families. Untreated wastewater used for irrigation in fields also have severe impacts on food production and people’s health.
Toilets are needed, they are necessary.
Take it from Mrs Kamizhi:
“Going to the toilet in the open promotes fly breeding. During rainy season our waste would be washed into the stream that we water from. This causes a lot of disease in our village. It was killing us. When we went in the bush we used to get soaked by the rain. But now we have a toilet that is roofed. We now live healthy lives, our children are healthy and they can go to school.”
Link a Lavy
For £35 you can twin your toilet with one in Africa. We’ll provide you with an official certificate which includes a photograph of the latrine you’ve helped build which you can hang in your toilets for all to see. Anyone can Link-a-Lavvy. It could be in a cafe, office, restaurant or your own home. Just make a donation of £35 and we’ll get in touch to send you all the information about the latrine you’ve helped build!
£35 can help a family like the Kamizhi’s build their own private toilet at home.