Want to get me a bday present? Urine luck!

By now, most of you know that I spent an incredible summer in India back in 2012, and that I like lame puns. I think about the individuals I met out there everyday, and long to go back and visit everybody. I was presented with an opportunity to go back to India this summer and work, but I decided that I could do more good raising a stink! The goal is to raise *at least* the same amount of money a plane ticket would cost, and use that to help build household toilets in the slums. 

By the numbers: 

1. 10 million. The number of viruses that can be found in only one gram of human faeces.

2. 2.5 billion. That’s how many people around the world still have no decent sanitation.

3. 1.1 billion. The amount of people who currently participate in "open defecation" around the world. 

4. Most of that 1.1 billion are in India and Africa.

5. 1,600. The number of children who die every day from diarrheal diseases. 

Seriously, the list goes on and on, but you get the point. Women and girls in the slums get a particularly raw deal, having to find somewhere safe to defecate in darkness for modesty’s sake, putting them at risk of rape and snake bites. water.org said it best: 

"Toilets bring dignity, privacy, and safety. For girls, it means they do not have to suffer embarrassment from relieving themselves in public, or drop out of school when menstruation begins. For women, it means they don't have to wait until the cover of darkness, risking rape or an encounter with a wild animal. For families, it means they don't have to suffer pointlessly from disease, but can instead take pride in having a safe place for guests and themselves to take care of business."

So what am I asking you to do? Help me celebrate my birthday month by donating to pay for 13 toilets! Or at least help me by spreading the word, not disease.

Thank you in advance! Love you all!

xoxo, brookie

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FAQ:

1. Does 100% of my money go towards the toilets? YES!

2. Are you sure? Yes! I am working with SAPID, an incredible group of local women who are changing the slums. They oversee all implementation and appropriation of funds. If you want to learn more about them, contact me directly. brookdorff (at) gmail (dot) com

3. How do you choose who gets a toilet? SAPID (see above) does intensive community surveys in the 27 slums to find out who lives where in each household. Priority is then assigned using rigorous methods to find out who has the greatest need--large families, families with more girls and pregnant women, families with older adults, families with individuals who are physically or mentally impaired, etc.

4. Why toilets, and not another project? Toilets were identified as the greatest need (with water right behind it) during all community meetings before I ever went to India, while I was there, and since. The women have begged us for toilets using personal accounts of dangerous situations including rape and snake bites. See above for stats.

5. Is this tax deductible? YES! Please ask me for more info if you're interested in a deduction!

6. What do I get by doing this besides a tax deduction? Maybe I'll make a music video. Maybe you'll get a lifetime subscription of sincere compliments and 10 second hugs from me. Maybe you'll get all of the above.

7. Brook, what the heck are those pictures above? I'm so glad you asked!

• first- a woman in the slums, with two of her daughters, who now has a toilet
• second- the first man whose toilet our group oversaw. her was very ill and could hardly walk, which is why he (among many other reasons) was chosen to have the first toilet in the summer of 2012. although he died the same summer we were there, from diarrhea, his last month of life was much easier because his wife didn't have to carry him to the fields to use the bathroom.
• third- a toilet in progress! you'll be paying for one of those!
• fourth- a woman who will be getting a toilet!
• fifth- a family in the process of getting a loo
• sixth- the women at the first community meeting we ever had in the slums. they were begging us to build them toilets.
• seventh- summer of 2012, when we built 35 toilets. these were the beneficiaries raising their hands to pledge to do part of the labor (as they will be with this project as well), and to take care of their toilets once they were built. such happy faces!
• eighth and ninth- bio toilet at different stages!
• tenth through twelfth- beneficiaries with their toilets, happy faces.