World Toilet Day

Hi friends,

Hope you are all having a wonderful evening!

I had another busy, busy day today at work - I met with the assistant of the World Food Programme's (WFP) Assistant Executive Director, Elisabeth Rasmusson, to go over the schedule for her visit to Canada this week. I honestly have so much respect for event planners - this is my first time helping with the coordination of a high-level event, and it is quite a lot of work.

Hopefully it will all pay off when everything runs smoothly :)

Workout

Since I stayed at the office ridiculously late, I didn't really feel like going outside for a run today. I decided to walk home, which I've been doing pretty consistently these days - its such a nice way to unwind from the day and get some fresh air and get a bit re-energized.

After dinner, I busted out this Blogilates total body workout - let me know if you try it out!

World Toilet Day

Turns out today is none other than World Toilet Day!!

Did you know that:

• 4,000 children die every day from diarrhoeal diseases
• 2.5 billion people lack access to an adequate toilet - that's almost 40% of the world's population!
• More people have access to a cell phone than a toilet(!!)
• 3.4 million people die every year from water-related illnesses

During my time spent in East Africa, I quickly became used to pit latrines - or outhouses, as they are called in Canada - and actually started to prefer them to regular flushing toilets since there usually wasn't running water in most places that I went, and if there was it worked minimally.

[Warning: potentially gross toilet pics ahead]

Meet the open pit latrine.

Notice how there was no toilet paper either - I actually started hoarding toilet paper whenever possible, when I was at a fancier hotel or whatnot, and keeping a stash with me for the times when there was none in the bathroom or if the bus driver decided that stopping next to an open field was an appropriate rest stop during a long bus ride.

Another one of my fav latrines was during a homestay with a family on Rusinga Island, Kenya where the outhouse was in the middle of the corn field behind the house - we had to bang on the side of it before going in the mornings to scare all of the lizards out of the way. For serious.

All joking aside, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions are incredibly important and can make a huge difference on people's lives and health status around the world.

If you have a few extra moments today, check out the following links and inform yourself a bit about WASH issues, and maybe take some time to sign this petition and show that you give a shit ;)