I give a shit! Do you?

The WTD is a day to raise awareness of how much there still is to do to ensure that billions of people around the globe have access to good sanitation. 

However, World Toilet Day is also a day to celebrate the good work that is being done and what has been achieved already. One way to contribute with the World Toilet Day is to share your experiences from the last year.

So the question is: Since the last World Toilet Day in 2011, what experience, activity or event that you were part of, etc that signals that progress is happening stands out for you?

If you have something to share, please send up to 250 words to P.Bongartz@ids.ac.uk and, if possible, a photo (separately in a jpg file) to go along with what you have written about. 

The responses will be compiled and posted them on the website on World Toilet Day.

Deadline: Tuesday, 13th November

Check out the World Toilet Day Website

Do you Give A Shit?

New Global World Toilet Day campaign is launched – Do you Give A Shit?

Do you Give A Shit? This is the tagline of the new global World Toilet Day campaign put together by the Water, Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and the World Toilet Organization (WTO). It’s slightly controversial. Very straight talking and means serious business.
Observed annually on 19 November, World Toilet Day is one of international of action that aims to break the taboo around the toilets – a topic no one likes to talk about - and draw attention to the existing global sanitation challenge. 
World Toilet Day was created to raise global awareness of the daily for proper dignified sanitation that a staggering 2.5 billion people continue to face.
Originally promoted by the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector (WASH) sector who understood far earlier the benefits of proper sanitation, good hygiene and clean drinking water has on the health and well being, educational attainment, wealth not to mention just basic human dignity. Increasingly it is gaining recognition by the international development community as a key issue, but there is still a long way to go.
Designed as an online campaign, World Toilet Day wants to cast its net far and wide to get the attention of not just those working on these issues already, but also decision makers and the public. Through its recently launched website (hyperlink website) it gives those interested in advocating for safer toilets– the perfect opportunity to do so. Through the website you can:
- Share the key campaign messages
- Advocate for better sanitation by hosting an event and register your activities on the interactive World Toilet Day map
- Promote World Toilet Day by using the logo, posters, banners, stickers and brochure
- Tell the world why You Give A Shit!
- Help the word on Facebook and Twitter.
If you Give A Shit, then World Toilet Day invites you to join in, take action and spread the word.

The making of "How to be a man"

I don't get out much. Perhaps I should. It is hard to escape the share house, that I co-habit with an 11 week old, a two year old and my beloved.

Like most share houses, my house mates spend most of their time drinking, vomiting and looking for their other shoe.

Tonight I went traveling through space and time. I did not have to travel far, to get to the my neighbourhood Arts Theatre......

For today was World Toilet Day and I celebrated by attending a charity, fundraiser performance of a theatre production, otherwise known as "How To Be A Man"...

#HTBAM is the third play in a falafel triology which started with the He Died With a Felafel in His Hand. It is useful to know that the writer Simon Bedak and the director Natalie Bochenski have conspired before on stage productions of Felafel and its first sequel: The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco.... However according to the Natalie, in order to enjoy the play, one does not need to have seen the prequels.

Incidentally, in the course of attending #HTBAM, I happened to meet Greg Wah & Dan Beeston - who are collectively Smart Enough to know Better. The Wah did a top job of raffling off stuff. I think Kat should recruit him to run more raffles for Engineers Without Borders. Apparently DNABeat is credited with shaping the aural landscape of #HTBAM which may explain a lot. The soundtrack to #htbam was freaking awesome. I was particularly impressed with the way Dan jammed #Toto &They Might Be Giants in there.

#HTBAM is the third play in a falafel trilogy, all based loosely on the life and writings of John Birmingham. When I say loosely, I might qualify that I have never personally met JB. I have not read or seen the Felafal prequels as books, plays or the movie. I have never played the board game or collected the Felafal bubble gum cards. So what would I know?

I actually tried to download an electronic copy of the book "How To Be a Man". I finally resorted to borrowing a copy from the Brisbane City Council library. I was surprised to find that it was in the non-fiction section and it was not written on rolls of toilet paper.

I follow John Birmingham on Twitter. I discovered JB and @GirlClumsy via the Fake Campbell Newman. I listened to JB occasionally (and retrospectively) on ABC Local Radio. I have read some of his rants in the Brisbane Times. The things I glean from JB on twitter did not correspond very well with the JB portrayed in the parallel universe, that is the Brisbane Arts Theatre. The JB that I imagine is a family man, a coach of under elevens sports teams and a sharp witted columnist. The occasional exchanges I have had with JB on twitter, have been about Spanish food, parenthood and World Toilet Day.

JB's bio on Amazon reads:

Right now I'm probably kicking back on my hovercraft somewhere in the Antilles, or the Maldives, enjoying a dissolute, essentially meaningless life funded by your generous book purchases. Please, don't make me go back to selling my bodily fluids to science. Buy my books now and I promise to keep indulging myself in grotesque pleasures and luxury that I haven't really earned.

The JB of #HTBAM is on the run from the Australian Tax Office and probably in need of the Australian Toilet Organisation (the other ATO). The JB of #HTBAM smokes a hell of lot of recreational drugs. Now, while I led a relatively sheltered youth, the friends of mine who did play with recreational drugs lost too much of their cognitive functions to host daytime radio or write the occasional novel and an opinion piece in the Brisbane Times, twice a week.

I still have no idea who Dirk Flinthart is. Bergie the Eskimo remains an enigma to me. The cameo appearance by a Bob Katter impersonator was truly spectacular.

If you want to meet the JB of #HTBAM, the play is on until 17 December 2011 including:

Thursday 24 November 2011 @ 8pm
Friday 25 November 2011 @ 8pm
Saturday 26 November 2011 @ 8pm

Thursday 1 December 2011 @ 8pm
Friday 2 December 2011 @ 8pm
Saturday 3 December 2011 @ 8pm

Thursday 8 December 2011 @ 8pm

Friday 9 December 2011 @ 8pm
Saturday 10 December 2011 @ 8pm

Thursday 15 December 2011 @ 8pm

Friday 16 December 2011 @ 8pm
Saturday 17 December 2011 @ 8pm

If you'd like to meet the real @johnbirmingham, apparently he will be at RiverbendBooks this Wednesday night (23 November 2011)...

imagine a world without toilets

Here is the scenario. It plays out like a dream sequence, not unlike the dream everyone has when one wakes up at school in one's pajamas.

Imagine oneself back at school. For some, this is a nightmare in itself....Humour me. Humour is going to be important....

One is back at school and nature calls.

Nature is pretty impatient.

Nature calling, is a euphemism for some thing we rarely discuss but let's speak plainly for a change.

One needs to do a poo. Perhaps one needs to do a wee as well. Approximately half of you also need to change a sanitary product .....and for the purposes of this dream sequence: there is no where to go.

Now, if one was the only person in the world (or the only person at one's school), this may not be such a problem.

However, what would happen in a crowded school (or a crowded planet of 7 billion people) if there was no toilets?

Where would one go?

Where would one hide?

One step outside the classroom and the smell of ammonia and/or hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg gas) wafts on the breeze.

A world without toilets, is a world full of poo and wee.

2.6 billion people do not have to imagine this world. 2.6 billion people live without access to a toilet.

These people without toilets might poo on the beaches. They might poo on the streets. They may sneak out a night to poo in the cover of darkness.

Pooing is a risky business.

Poo is a mixture of human specific pathogens, metabolic toxins in a matrix of indigestible fibre.

That stuff could kill.......or worse, maim.

Imagine slowly starving. Even if one has no lack of food: imagine everything one eats passing straight through one's body...unable to be digested.

A world without toilets, leads to suffering. People suffer. The natural environment suffers. The species that share our biome also suffer (except certain populations of bacteria and perhaps some species of flies......)

On World Toilet Day, please be grateful for your toilet. Please be grateful for your sewers, sewage treatment plants and all the people who clean, maintain and operate the systems that transport and treat one's poo and wee.

Celebrate one's toilet. Give thanks and praise to those who clean them. Think about the impacts of flush toilets. There are now many alternative technologies.

Imagine a world without toilets. Imagine a world where everyone had access to a toilet.

Talk about toilets. Break the taboos and talk about poo.

potty mouthed

Next Saturday - 19 November 2011 is World Toilet Day.

No, seriously.

I am not taking the piss.

In 2001, the World Toilet Organisation (also known as the WTO) declared 19th November World Toilet Day (WTD).

Today it is celebrated in over 19 countries with over 51 events being hosted by various water and sanitation advocates.

World Toilet Organization created WTD to raise global awareness of the struggle 2.6 billion face every day without access to proper, clean sanitation. WTD also brings to the forefront the health, emotional and psychological consequences the poor endure as a result of inadequate sanitation.

My Challenge to you on World Toilet Day is to have a think about where your poo and wee goes, if & when you flush it.....

If you are in Brisbane, on the 19 November 2011, come along and celebrate World Toilet Day at the Brisbane Arts Thearte.

Write to your local newspaper editor telling them about World Toilet Day

The Editor,

The Courier-Mail

Dear Sir/Madam,

It’s World Toilet Day (WTD) on 19 November! In Brisbane, I will be celebrating WTD at the Brisbane Arts theatre (BAT) at a production of the play - "How to be a Man". How will you celebrate WTD?

The BAT is teaming up with the South-East Queensland chapter of Engineers Without Borders, to raise awareness and funds of their work providing critical sanitation for some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities.

$2 from every ticket sold at How To Be A Man on 19 November will go to EWB, as well as proceeds of a large raffle and casual donations.

Most people don’t like to talk about toilets but the World Toilet Organization & Engineers Without Borders Australia love to talk about them and we’d like more people to spare a thought for the toilet on this year’s World Toilet Day.

Could you imagine not having a toilet? What if for one day only, no-one in our country had a toilet - it’s pretty unthinkable isn’t it? Yet for 2.6 billion people in the world having no toilet is a daily reality.

Children are literally dying for the toilet, in the developing world a child dies every 15 seconds from water-related diseases.

So , I invite you to consider how vital toilets are, spare a thought or campaign for 40% of the world’s population who have to live without the basic necessity of somewhere safe to go to the toilet.

World Toilet Organization helps to eradicate this sanitation crisis and I urge you to get in touch with them to make the world a better place for everyone.

Please visit www.worldtoiletday.com or www.worldtoilet.org or ewb.org.au to help make a difference.

How To Be A Man - World Toilet Day performance

Sat 19 November 2011 8pm

Tickets $31 adults; $25 concession; $20 members

Book online: www.artstheatre.com.au

Yours sincerely,

Rowan Barber

Toilet Humour for World Toilet Day

Brisbane Arts Theatre helps Engineers Without Borders with special fundraising performance

The Brisbane Arts Theatre’s latest production - How To Be A Man - has its fair share of toilet humour.

But on Saturday 19 November - World Toilet Day - it’s all for a serious cause.

The BAT is teaming up with the South-East Queensland chapter of Engineers Without Borders, to raise awareness and funds of their work providing critical sanitation for some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities.

$2 from every ticket sold at How To Be A Man on 19 November will go to EWB, as well as proceeds of a large raffle and casual donations.

“We want people to come out and have a laugh, as our play contains high levels of toilet humour,” says director Natalie Bochenski.

“But it’s a great way to get across the serious message of the world’s sanitation crisis, and do our bit to help.”

“2.6 billion people do not have a designated, sustainable place to poo or wee,” says Rowan Barber, a Brisbane engineer and member of EWB.

“The statistics are unfathomable - every 8 seconds, a child dies from easily preventable, fecal- related illness.

Rowan says even the word “sanitation” fails to convey the gravity of the situation. “People are dying because they live and breathe poo. Children suffer malnutrition, not because of a lack of food but because their food passes through them. Dysentery. Diarrhea. Vomiting. These are the symptoms of the crisis.”

The good news is Engineers Without Borders DOES make a difference. All funds raised from the BAT’s charity performance will support the organisation in projects such as building latrines for floating villages along the Tonle Sap river in Cambodia; or closer to home, a culturally-appropriate amenities block at the Murra Murra indigenous homestead past St George, in South-West Queensland.

Rowan says we’ve become a “flush and forget” society; and it’s a good time to think of the local impacts of our waste.

In 2010/2011, 149,198 ML of poo, wee and wastewater was generated by 1.3 million Brisbane residents and 4,700 tradewaste customers,” says Rowan.

“That works out about 164 Olympic size swimming pools a day.”

How To Be A Man

Charity Performance for World Toilet Day

Saturday 19 November

$2 from each ticket sold will go to Engineers Without Borders

Warning: Production contains explicit content & adult themes

TOILET TRIVIA

World Toilet Day was founded in 2001 by the World Toilet Organisation, and is celebrated

every year on 19 November. (http://www.worldtoilet.org/wto/index.php/our-works/world-

toilet-day)

Many organisations support this day with fundraising/awareness efforts; including Engineers

Without Borders (www.ewb.org.au). This is where the BAT’s charity efforts will go.

"EWB cultivates long-term relationship with communities, both here and overseas, and we

focus on building on the strengths of those communities, so that they are more able to

manage their own future. Most of us here in Australia take things like clean toilets for

granted. We want people everywhere to be able to live their lives free from diseases and

disadvantages that are easily preventable by having appropriate and well-designed sanitation

systems." - Kat Healey (EWB SEQ Chapter President)

The World Health Organisation has a great list of 10 quick facts about sanitation. (http://

www.who.int/features/factfiles/sanitation/facts/en/index.html). One of the most revealing is

that a lack of safe, secure toilets can often disrupt girls’ schooling, particularly as they reach

puberty. Better toilets equals better education!

The Brisbane Arts Theatre has a urinal named after author John Birmingham and playwright

Simon Bedak, after the success of our previous productions He Died With a Felafel in His Hand

(2009) and The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco (2010).

The Brisbane Arts Theatre is an independent community organisation that receives no

ongoing government or corporate sponsorship.

How To Be A Man

Plays Thurs to Sat nights from 8pm

12 November to 17 December

Tickets $31 adults; $25 concession; $20 members

Book online: www.artstheatre.com.au

World Toilet Day

I wonder if you can have a bit of a think & a chat to your colleagues about how we might want to celebrate World Toilet Day in 2011.

The 19th November - is World Toilet Day: http://worldtoilet.org/wto/index.php/programmes/world-toilet-day/78-world-toilet-day-2011

http://www.wateraid.org/australia/about_us/newsroom/8015.asp

In 2008, when I was at the Department of Public Works, we teamed up with Caroma, the International Water Centre & Engineers Without Borders to run a 100 toilet Art Exhibition in the Queen Street Mall. We had Bob Mcmullan (the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance) come along and open the exhibition. Councillor David Hinchliffe submitted an entry along with local artists & artisans, PR/Marketing & engineering firms.

In 2009, we held a sit in (squat in) at King George Square, highlighting the fact that 2.6 billion people have to squat out in the open or in the streets, because they do not have access to even the most basic toilets.

in 2010, we held "a where would you hide", Art Exhibition, with the Australian Toilet Organisation & WaterAid Australia, using lifesize cardboard puppets. Unfortunately, the puppets drowned in the basement of Brisbane Square in the January flood. We also acknowledged the work of the folks in Urban Cleansing at Brisbane City Council, who clean & maintain public toilets.

Earlier this year, I extorted some money & support from Natalie Bochenski (aka Girl Clumsy) - http://www.girlclumsy.com/2011/02/rowan-doesnt-want-to-help-or-does-he.html

The objective of World Toilet Day is to celebrate our toilets & the benefits that they bring and to raise awareness of the fact that a third of the world's citizens do not have access to a toilet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is a summary of what a toilet means for a young girl (taken from: http://blockbuster.water.org/?p=466)

1) She can stay in school.
Girls in the developing world often drop out of school once they reach puberty because there are not separate sanitation facilities for boys and girls. When menstruating, there is nowhere private to tend to their needs or deal with soiled clothes. The resulting embarrassment and anxiety causes girls to give up on school.

2) She’ll have better health.
Lack of toilets or other 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 not only causes extreme discomfort, but can also cause 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 sanitation (toilets, or other means of waste disposal). Because no sanitation facilities are available, open defecation is a common practice in rural areas in the developing world – 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.
With the setting sun comes the long-awaited opportunity for girls to relieve themselves – but fear is a companion to their relief. 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.
Imagine living life without sanitation: you have no privacy, no sense of security, poor health, and limited options for staying in school.

regards,

Rowan Barber - Sanitation Engineer