Nicholson twins his toilet for World Toilet Day
Conservative and Unionist MEP, Jim Nicholson, has twinned his office toilet in the EU Parliament with a latrine in Burundi, central Africa, in time for World Toilet Day on Saturday 19th November.
Mr.Nicholson said, “Having visited Uganda this year and seen for myself the devastating effect a lack of clean water and sanitation has on almost 40% of the world, I was delighted to be the first UK MEP to twin my European Parliament toilet and help support communities much less fortunate than ourselves.”
Mr. Nicholson received a framed certificate for the newly twinned toilet at the Parliament building, complete with a photograph and GPS coordinates to locate his Burundian toilet twin online.
Toilet Twinning offers a quirky way to do something meaningful that will help the 2.6 billion people living without decent sanitation. Since Toilet Twinning’s launch more than 1,600 latrines have been built in Burundi, helping almost 10,000 people to go to the loo in a safe, private and hygienic way
“Everyone’s heard of twinning a town but Toilet Twinning makes things a little more personal” says Tim Magowan, Northern Ireland Director for International Development Charity, Tearfund. “We are delighted with this support from Jim Nicholson which will help people for whom good, clean, safe sanitation is a luxury, not a given”.
A simple latrine can make a huge difference, impacting a person’s health, dignity and livelihood. For every £1 invested in water and sanitation at least £8 is returned through reduced health costs and increased productivity.
It costs £60 to twin a toilet. The money raised is used by Toilet Twinning’s founder charities, Cord and Tearfund, to support community hygiene promotion, and improve access to clean water and safe sanitation.
To twin a loo at work, home or school, visit www.toilettwinning.org.