As well as the successful completion of a number of 'pilot' toilets for individual households in Dominase, the latrine block at the Marfo Junior Secondary School in Dominase has now been officially opened.
All the money needed to build this block of toilets was raised from our 'Buy a Bog' campaign - and we'd like to be able to help more schools in the future.
The toilet block has 4 cubicles (two for boys and two for girls) and provides hand-washing facilities by collecting rainwater from the roof.
Providing safe, clean and private toilets (particularly for teenage girls) is likely to mean that more children will attend school every day - and so get a better start in life ?
On a visit to Dominase in April 2011, Doug Jones was also able to see all the 'pilot' household toilets and to meet the people who have received their first ever toilet, thanks to you ?
A number of elderly, poor and blind people are all delighted with their toilet houses - which will mean that they will no longer need to go and squat in the bushes, in fear of snakes, or run the risk of deadly germs being trodden back into their homes and kitchens.
Pictures of some of the people that our 'Buy a Bog' campaign has helped are featured at the end of this news item.
As well as providing the toilets, our work has trained a number of local masons with the skills to build more in the future and we have provided 'movie show' hygiene education sessions for hundreds of villagers.
We are now planning to provide more household toilets by paying for the costs of materials that villagers would be unable to afford. They will do much of the hard work to construct the toilets for themselves.
Our 'Buy a Bog' campaign to raise more money will, therefore, need to continue to run for some time yet - but, as you can see, it is already making a difference. Please let us know if you can help in any way?.
Relatively small amounts of money can make a really big difference to people in Dominase and every penny raised by Buriton's 'Village-to-Village' Group is spent directly on projects there.
There is more information about the link with Dominase on this website: www.buriton.info/dominase
