Grade 6 Changemaker Takes on Toilet Twinning

Caity and Principal Pete Sinclair outside a bathroom at Frankfurt International School on World Toilet Day.

November 19th was World Toilet Day and, according to the United Nations, 3.6 billion people still live without access to safely managed sanitation.

Caity, a grade 6 student at Frankfurt International School (FIS), is passionate about helping girls and women get access to safe and clean toilets and is making a big difference at 11 years old.

How it began: Caity was moved by a story about Ebinda, a 14-year-old from the DR Congo, who did not have access to a bathroom and had to go to the bush to relieve herself. This resulted in traumatic violence, as Ebinda was brutally attacked and gang raped when she was alone outside. Ebinda became pregnant and had to leave school to take care of her baby even though, at 14, she was a child herself. 

When Caity heard Ebinda’s story, she knew she had to do something to make a difference.

Caity is working with Toilet Twinning ( www.toilettwinning.org ), a UK non-profit group that focuses on raising money and awareness around this global issue.  The organization builds toilets in communities where access to sanitation facilities are limited. They use a model where individuals and groups can “twin” their own toilets with toilets or latrines constructed in other communities. 

To date, Caity has raised funds to build 100 toilets in countries including Malawi, Myanmar, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Zambia, Nicaragua, Ivory Coast, South Sudan, Rwanda and Mali. To “twin” one toilet costs 68 Euros (including building a latrine and providing education on hygiene and sanitation). 

To observe World Toilet Day, Caity twinned one of the school’s toilets at FIS with a block of toilets at a school in Malawi. It cost approximately 275 Euros to construct toilets for the Malawi school, and Caity raised the money by cat sitting and collecting plastic bottles with her three best friends, Catherine, Clara and Ari. 

Caity has set a goal to twin all the toilets in her school in 2023 and is creating a Social Service Club at FIS to achieve that goal.

Inspire Citizens is actively collaborating with FIS and Caity to host the FIS Changemaker Conference in March of 2023. https://sites.google.com/fis.edu/changemaker-conference/home

You can learn about Caity’s story in this week’s Empathy to Impact podcast.