How latrines give ways to help girls change their lives

"The water in your toilet is cleaner than nearly a billion people have to drink. More people have cell phones than a toilet. The solutions are simple. Join the fight?" 

via Water Features

This girl washes up after using her new school latrine.
photo courtesy of water.org

Define LATRINE:

• A communal toilet of a type often used in a camp or barracks. 
• A receptacle (as a pit in the earth) for use as a toilet. 
• A latrine (from Latin lavatrina meaning bath) is a communal space with multiple toilets, or a single standalone apparatus that is designed for defecation and urination. It is also another name for Duchamp's Fountain.

There are Four Ways How a Toilet Can Help Change a Girl's Life:

1) She can stay in school. 

photo by Living in Kuito

Once girls in the developing world reach puberty, they often drop out of school because there are no separate sanitation facilities for boys and girls. When menstruating, there's no privacy when tending to their needs or dealing with soiled clothes. The resulting embarrassment and anxiety causes girls to give up on school.

2) She’ll have better health.

photo by gbaku

Lack of sanitation facilities forces girls to wait until nighttime to defecate (under the cover of darkness) or to wake up very early in the morning. This usually causes extreme discomfort, urinary tract infections and other gastro-intestinal problems.

Fecal matter is the leading cause of illness in the world. Most of these illnesses, such as diarrhea, are easily preventable with access to toilets or other means of waste disposal. Open defecation is a common practice in rural areas in the developing world due to unavailable sanitation facilities – despite the fact that people are ashamed of being forced to use this practice and often know that it is associated with disease. While many adult women suffer chronic diarrhea and survive, hundreds of thousands of girls less than five years old die each year because of it.

3) She won’t have to worry about her safety.

photo by Hamner_Fotos

Fear is a companion to the long-awaited opportunity for girls to relieve themselves. When a girl’s only option is relieve herself under the cover of darkness, in a remote field or other removed location, she is more open to attack by wild animals and poisonous insects, and more vulnerable to rape and physical and sexual assault.

4) She’ll have the dignity she deserves.

photo by Giorgio Montersino

Living life without sanitation have no privacy, no sense of security, poor health, and limited options for staying in school.

There are few needs more basic – or more important – than sanitation. Once women and girls have access to sanitation, they regain their dignity and the opportunity to thrive in all other areas of their life as well.

Sweet Says ... You can join the fight:

• SEE THE WORLD by joining a community.
• FALL IN LOVE with helping us bring more people clean water and the dignity of a toilet. Fall in love with being a water advocate in your networks.
• BE A HERO by donating your voice on Facebook or Twitter to the water cause today. Tell others about this outrageous crisis. Provoke thought and spur action. Fight for good.
• SAVE THE DAY by making a donation for clear water.

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