Loo at Sutton St James Baptist Church is twinned with toilet in Uganda

The loo at Sutton St James Baptist Church has been twinned with a toilet more than 6,000 miles away in Uganda.

Church officials haven’t gone barking mad because the twinning is a small step to flushing away poverty, one toilet at a time, by giving some of the world’s poorest people safe sanitation, clean water and hygiene education.

Within days, the smallest room at the Baptist Church in Chapel Gate will be adorned with a certificate honouring the link with the latrine in Bukoro village, complete with a colour photo of the Ugandan twin and its GPS coordinates.

Pastor Sue Hensby, who is supported in her ministry by husband Arnie, came across the charity Toilet Twinning and decided to help.

Sue said: “We have twinned with a toilet in Uganda as Arnie and I have spent time in Uganda doing voluntary work and really do understand the challenges they have.

“I announced the idea at our community lunch last Thursday and we raised £35 towards the £60 cost. The Church will put in the balance and it will become a great talking point here.”

Sue hopes the gesture from Sutton St James residents will spark a chain reaction across South Holland because anyone anywhere can twin their loo.

She said: “You can twin your home loo or twin the loos where you work or go to school.”

Sue visited Uganda in 2006 and 2011 through her links with a church in Milton Keynes and said sanitation was basic in the very rural villages, with some loos being a hole in the ground with a concrete slab over the top.

In comparison, the loo at the Baptist Church is light years ahead.

“At least ours flushes,” said Sue. “It’s not great. We have only got the one toilet and we would like to get to the point where we have two toilets and a disabled toilet.”

• The church has two new initiatives, first a Pancake Day drop-in on Tuesday, February 13 when anyone can join the open house for a pancake and a cuppa between 10.30am-2pm.

Starting on Tuesday, February 20 the church opens its doors weekly to school-run mums, dads and grandparents from 8.45am-10.30am. The fixture is called Mum’s Cuppa Stop.

• Twin your loo at www.toilettwinning.org

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Church to be a hub to meet needs of the community

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