FROME’S toilet twinning initiative was officially launched on Wednesday 8th May with Dougal Croudace of Big Dream Ghana cutting the toilet paper ribbon on the Work’s Canteen toilet.
Dougal had previously given a presentation on the toilet building taking place in his village in Ghana. These toilets each serve an extended family who previously had no toilet facilities – a situation over two billion people in the world find themselves in each day.
Although fresh water is also often a crucial issue for people in developing countries, it is poor sanitation and contamination from sewage that causes disease, with over 5,000 young children a day dying from preventable diarrhoea.
Earlier in the evening, the 20 guests had enjoyed a Ghanaian meal, carefully prepared by the Canteen’s staff who had given their time, with all the food donated as well. Overall the evening raised £500 which will pay for a whole new toilet block.
Peter Macfadyen, who opened the evening, had explained the idea behind linking Frome’s community toilets in this way. In just a few weeks, of the seven toilets, three are now formally connected to ones in Africa. The Works Canteen will continue to collect funds and has organised an event on 13th July with Radio Frome in which your ‘desert island discs’ will be played live for a donation.
