Be grateful for your toilet

I am a lucky person; our house has two toilets. This is not a good fortune shared by some 2.5 billion people who lack toilets. Each year some 5 million people die from diarrhoea type diseases which are the result of this lack of toilets. In India 3 out of 4 people do not have a toilet – they have to go to a field or up into the hills to “move their bowels”. There are parts of India now where families will not let their daughters marry a man who does not have a toilet. Good for them!

I watched the Swedish TV show “Korrespondenterna” yesterday where the topic was sewage. Apparently the river Thames receives a disgusting mix of sewage and rain water every time there is a big rainfall in London (and that happens 50-60 times a year!). Rowers who use the river for their practice frequently get ill from this not-very-lovely-water … RATS (Rowers Against Thames Sewage) is trying to bring more attention to this issue. How can a modern city like London allow this? And the word is that the same happens in Paris, New York …

I am stunned at how ignorant I am about issues like this – I take my toilet and well working sewage system for granted. Time for some reflection I think ….