SI Tunbridge Wells aimed to become a Toilet Twinned Town as part of our work to promote gender equality. After much hard work this was achieved in November 2022.
Without toilets and clean water people in rural areas with few facilities become sick through sanitation-related disease. Illness means they cannot work or farm so they earn less or grow less food. Children, particularly girls, miss school as they are either sick or busy collecting water. Girls can drop out of school permanently when they start their period if they have no access to a toilet or changing room. Parents fall into debt when they have to devote their small income to buy medicine or food. Women and girls risk being attacked by men or bitten by snakes going to the toilet in the open, especially at night. Water and sanitation projects like this one promoted by toilettwinning.org enable families to build a toilet, access clean water and learn basic hygiene principles
To fund toilet twinning SI Tunbridge Wells initiated a system of collecting and recycling aluminium cans to be turned into cash to buy toilets. As well as club members collecting cans, the local Council installed dedicated collection bins in local parks, which a team of club members regularly visited to empty.
The club also held a sponsored walk to help raise money to fund more toilets.
Club member Louise Taylor constructed a toilet from aluminium cans, which was taken to Friends of the Earth, IWD or other events held locally where we promoted the toilet twinning project.
In all, twenty toilets were funded, and toilet twinning certificates were presented to businesses and dignitaries in Tunbridge Wells so that toilet twinning could be promoted around our town.
