A CHURCH’S toilet has been twinned with a loo in rural Sierra Leone as part of a scheme to improve health and hygiene in impoverished countries.
Barnard Castle resident Ian Blake, who arranged the twinning of St Mary’s Church loo with another in the north African country, hopes that more organisations and groups in the town will sign up to the scheme.
He said: “One in three people in the world don’t have a loo. Having a safe loo to use brings security and it provides hygiene.”
By contributing £60 to the Flush Away Poverty toilet twinning scheme, one new toilet can be put up in a country where facilities do not exist and ill health through poor hygiene is rife.
Mr Blake, who started the scheme by encouraging members of St Mary’s community choir to make a donation, now wants other groups, such as restaurants, pubs and schools to do the same.
He said: “In one evening at choir practice, for £2 a head, we could fund a loo. It was fantastic how people responded so positively.”
The 62-year-old has coined the campaign “Help Barney flush away poverty and be a Toilet Twinning town” and he will be chatting to the town council’s partnership committee.
Anyone interested can email Mr Blake at barneystoi
