Eyewitness - 05 March 2010

Eyewitness - a sideways look at the Quaker world

Will this catch on? There’s no end to the clever ways charities have of persuading us all to give more help to developing countries. You can give a goat, support a village, send your computer. But how about giving your lavatory? Seriously – Eye thinks this is a great idea to improve desperately needed sanitation in African countries. You don’t actually give away your loo of course, but you twin your home ‘facility’ with a new one in Burundi, which you sponsor.  Some male Friends in Coventry seem to have been the impetus for this unique idea. It started out as a straightforward fund to improve sanitation in Burundi, by a local charity called Cord. Coventry Meeting saw the appeal leaflets but were rather underwhelmed by them. ‘Somehow they did not excite interest,’ says William Waddilove of Coventry Meeting.

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