INSpiREzine Stars! | Page 87

Imagine going to a school without any

toilets. “Where would you go?”

Shockingly, this is the unfortunate

reality for nearly half of the world’s

schools. Over 600 million children lack

clean water, toilets and handwashing

facilities at their schools, putting their

health, dignity, and safety at grave risk.

A lack of proper hygiene facilities

further discourages students,

particularly girls, from attending

school. Day to day, girls forgo eating

and drinking during school hours just

to avoid the harassment involved with

having to relieve themselves in the

open. Girls can miss as much as 40%

of the school year due to a lack of a

discrete space to relieve themselves

and manage their periods. Many girls

drop out entirely once they reach

puberty.

Ensuring that children attend school

and complete their education is crucial

to a country’s progress. In developing

countries, education and access to

clean water and sanitation are amongst

the five pillars of sustainable

development (education, access to clean

water & sanitation, access to health care, food

security, economic opportunity) required

to empower communities to end their

cycle of poverty.

But the lack of school toilets and

sanitation is just a reflection of an even

bigger problem. The World Health

Organization estimates that

worldwide, 2.8 billion people live

without access to a toilet, 4.5 billion

people live without safely managed

sanitation, and some 1.8 billion people

use a source of drinking water that is

fecally contaminated.

MapleWishes was conceived with the

notion that we are all ultimately

responsible for our communities and

the people with whom we share them.

Realizing that the idea of community

extends far beyond our doors and

geographical boundaries, we are

partnering with #ToiletTalk to implement a sustainable school

toilet access project in Rajasthan, India.

The project goes beyond simply

building school toilet blocks and hand-

washing stations. With the goal of

ensuring sustainability long after the

toilet blocks have been built, the

project will provide community

members with hygiene and menstrual

management education that

underlines the health and

environmental benefits of safely

managed sanitation.

As girls growing up in a first world

community where education and

access to water and a toilet are luxuries

we take for granted, we feel compelled

to help make the same a reality for

every girl, everywhere.

Stay tuned!

- Rowan & Avery Parkinson