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