2.5 billion people – that’s 40% of the world’s population – don’t have somewhere safe, clean and hygienic to go to the loo. For people in poor communities, a hole in the ground is quite literally a life saver – protecting women from the risk of attack as they find somewhere private to squat, and shielding children from preventable diarrhoeal diseases. At the moment, every minute, three children under the age of five die because of dirty water and poor sanitation.

Toilet Twinning is an initiative by charities Cord and Tearfund and is a fun way of addressing the problem.

It costs £60 to twin a single toilet. You can choose which country (9 currently available in Africa and Asia) you want to twin with and you are then sent a certificate and framed picture of your toilet there – one that has recently been built in that country - to display in your toilet here. Your £60 then goes to further sanitation projects tailored to suit each different community. When families work together to install water pumps, build toilets, and learn about basic hygiene, the health of the whole community improves.

Our ambition is to twin all the toilets in our church involving all the groups within the church. If your group would like to join in, we will allocate you a toilet in church, then you need to decide on the country to twin with and raise the money. Go to www.toilettwinning.org where you will find lots of background information about the scheme and the countries you can choose. There are no deadlines to meet.

Anne Garsed (717376) and Lesley Birkett (718098) will co-ordinate the project, so please speak to one of them if your group would like to be involved. They are also happy to come and speak to groups about the project. If you want to twin your own toilet/s at home, that’s fine, ask us for details.