When the children at Otterton Church of England Primary School heard about a charity called Toilet Twinning and it really touched their hearts.
The charity provides sanitation and clean water to communities in poor countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Uganda and Sierra Leone. They also work in war torn countries like Afghanistan and countries hit by natural disasters such as Haiti following the earthquake in 2010 and the Philippines when it was hit by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
When Otterton’s school council and ethos group heard about this charity, the compassion they showed for the children that have no toilets and that have to walk up to 3.7 miles just to get clean water was incredible and they said that we had to do something. They like the way in which the charity linked to the school’s values of respect, courage, compassion, trust, hope and thankfulness and each and every one of Otterton’s children took this on board, showing compassion, respect and hope for the people that they are helping, being thankful for what they have themselves and recognising the courage it takes for those that aren’t so fortunate to set out on their journey every day to collect fresh water.
School administrator Kathryn Thompson said: “They decided that we would hold a ‘Dress Blue for the Loo’ non-uniform day when everyone came to school dressed in blue and donated £1.
“On that day we also held some fun activities such as ‘Throw Pennies in the Potty’ and ‘Pin the Person on the Toilet’ which the children donated to have a go at. We raised over £84 on that one day which was absolutely fantastic and was enough to twin a family toilet.
“They also decided that we should do a sponsored walk, walking at least 3.7 miles so they knew what it felt like for those children walking to collect water. Due to Covid and our school bubbles the Key Stage 1 children did their walk over three days and walked a total of 4.9 miles in and around Otterton and the Key Stage 2 children walked just over six miles from Otterton to Budleigh Salterton and back.
“The children went all out getting sponsorship from family and friends and collected an incredible £1,348.”
Kathryn explained: “Our aim at the outset of our fundraising was to raise £300, enough to twin a family toilet and a block of toilets for a school.
“So far, with money still coming in, we have raised more than four times this amount, with our total standing at £1,432. For any school this would be an amazing amount of money to have raised but with only 55 children in our school, we are absolutely blown away by the passion and determination that they have shown for our cause.
“This amount of money means that we are now able to twin not the one family toilet and one school block that we had hoped for but four of each and are also able to twin two taps as well, which is something that we could never have imagined possible.”