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Title: 5 million Ghanaians defecate openly daily, 1.1bn globally
Source:
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URL Source: http://environmentalwatchman.blogsp ... ghanaians-defecate-openly.html
Published: Nov 4, 2012
Author: Edmund Smith-Asante
Post Date: 2018-01-21 10:20:02 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 2993
Comments: 55
Accra, the capital of the Republic of Ghana, in the West Africa sub-region, is a city widely known for its very modern infrastructure, which includes beautiful architecture and a very good road network and flyovers, including the recent but famed George Walker Bush Motorway, which stretches from the Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout to Mallam junction. Also referred to as the world’s headquarters for open defecation, 626 million of the Asian populous state has more than twice the number of the next 18 countries combined; accounts for 90 per cent of the 692 million people in South Asia who practice open defecation and accounts for 59 per cent of the 1.1 billion people in the world who practice open defecation. Sanitation is a human right For its part, the United Nations maintains the majority of the world’s 1.1 billion people who practice open defecation are living in rural areas, and because they have no private place to defecate and urinate; they use fields and bushes, ditches or railway tracks, or simply a plastic bag. For them, sanitation is about dignity and ultimately human rights, the UN body states. Poster Comment: I just hope no one calls these countries shitholes because it might hurt the feelings of the people who live there and openly defecate in their streets and everywhere else. We need to be sensitive to their feelings about open defecation. 
A Ghanaian practicing open defecation in a storm drain in Accra
The city also boasts of a very modern international airport, the Kotoka International Airport near the roundabout, which handles an average of about 4,888 passengers on a daily basis, if the total of 1.784 million passengers who went through the airport in 2011 is anything to go by (By 2013 it is expected that expansion works will increase the annual passenger population to 5.2 million).
Adding to the city’s attractions are plush residential areas such as Trasaaco estate, Manet estate, East and West Legon, Roman Ridge, Ridge, Dzorwulu, Cantonments and Labone, just to mention a few.
This and many more, are the admiration of many a visitor to the capital and other cities and towns, who arrive from all parts of the world through the country’s only but very beautiful and busy international airport, as well as border towns such as Aflao in the Volta Region and Elubo in the Western Region among others.
Indeed, it is not only the infrastructure of Accra that visitors to the capital and first timers to Ghana admire, but the country’s warm people and tasty and spicy cuisine. Many nationals experience a ‘love at first taste’ relationship with most Ghanaian dishes.
Yes! Ghana has been aptly described as the “Gateway to Africa”, a good place to do business in Africa because of its very stable political climate, among others.
Open defecation practiced with careless abandon
However, what may shock many visitors to Ghana, especially those from the Diaspora, is the awful sight of able-bodied men and women as well as children busily defecating along some of the country’s beautiful beaches that are the attraction to many tourists, inside big drains and at dump sites, especially in the mornings and at dusk, mostly in the capital cities of the 10 regions, including the administrative and commercial capital - Accra.
Rural folks also indulge in open defecation, albeit in bushes at the outskirts of their communities and along footpaths for those afraid to venture deep into the bush for fear of being bitten by a reptile or attacked by wild animals or fellow humans.
In fact, during a recent encounter with an indigene of a community in the Northern Region of Ghana where open defecation is rife – Tindang Peliga, Madam Ayishetu Kofi, the women’s leader, said “Whenever we go to the bush we are exposed to danger from both snakes and men.”
Current statistics from a 2008 assessment by the Water and Sanitation Monitoring Platform (WSMP), Ghana, indicates that about five million Ghanaians defecate openly daily, with the Upper East Region topping with 81.9%, followed by Upper West with 78.7%.
Ghanaians love the game of football very much, especially when the national team – Black Stars is playing against another national team in a qualifier, friendly or world tournament.
One of the country’s national stadia – the Accra Sports Stadium rechristened Ohene Djan sports stadium, has a capacity of 40,000. Can you imagine 125 stadiums of that size and capacity jam-packed with people all defecating onto the pitch at the same time?
Ah! Disgusting you would say. But that is what happens on a daily basis in Ghana according to available statistics and the country will need to build a million toilets to curb the practice.
The Northern Region of the country is listed as having the third highest open defecation rate in Ghana at 72.9%, meaning about 73 out of every 100 persons openly ease themselves on a daily basis.
The Central Region is the fourth highest on the table with 18.1% and Volta Region fifth with 13.8%.
Placing sixth is the Western Region with 12.8%; Greater Accra, seventh with 8.1%; Brong Ahafo, eighth with 6.4%; Eastern Region, ninth with 5.5%, and Ashanti Region, tenth and the lowest, with 3.4%.
Confirming the number of Ghanaians who defecate daily, is a desk study released by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) on April 17, 2012.
According to the study, 4.8 million Ghanaians have no latrine at all and defecate in the open, and that the poorest quintile (20% of the population) is 22 times more likely to practice open defection than the richest.
This figure however represents just a fraction of a total of 1.1 billion people worldwide who defecate daily because they do not have access to any form of toilet facility.
Top 12 countries that practice open defecation
India leads the pack of top 12 countries of the world that account for almost three-quarters of the people who practice open defecation. 
Open defecation by an Indian in Mumbai
They are followed by Indonesia with 63 million doing open defecation, Pakistan with 40 million, Ethiopia with 38 million and Nigeria with 34 million engaging in open defecation.
Sudan is sixth on the chart with 19 million having no access to toilets, followed by Nepal with 15 million of its people without access to toilets, then China in eighth position with 14 million, Niger at ninth place with 12 million, Burkina Faso at 10th with 9.7 million, Mozambique at 11th with 9.5 million without access to any form of toilets and Cambodia 12th with 8.6 million without toilet access.
Interestingly however, although according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 23 countries practicing open defecation have shown a marked improvement from 1990 to 2006 with Nepal leading, having moved from 84 percent to 50 percent over the period and hence a 34 percent decrease, Ghana is nowhere on the table.
Ghana’s economic loses
The WSP study states further, that Ghana’s economy loses GH¢ 420 million (US$290 million, 1.6 percent of GDP) each year, due to poor sanitation.
Titled “Economic Impacts of Poor Sanitation in Africa – Ghana”, the desk study found that the majority (74 percent) of the costs come from the annual premature death of 19,000 Ghanaians from diarrhoea, including 5,100 children under the age of five (5), nearly 90 percent of which is directly attributable to poor water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Health-related costs accounted for nearly 19 percent of the total economic costs, while access time and productivity losses accounted for about seven (7) percent.
In his reaction to the figures, Yolande Coombes, senior water and sanitation specialist with WSP, stated “We’ve known for some time about the impact of poor sanitation on health, but this is one of the first studies to quantify the annual costs incurred because of poor sanitation,” adding “Ghana will not be able to grow sustainably without addressing these costs”.
Quoting from the Rural Sanitation Model and Strategy (R-SMS) of Ghana, the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), says the strategy estimates that open defecation alone costs Ghana US$ 79 million annually, and that US$ 215 million is lost each year to premature deaths emanating from diarrheal diseases - a direct consequence of the poor WASH situation.
Other scary figures attributable to poor WASH, according to the R-SMS, are that US$ 1.5 million is lost due to productivity losses while sick or accessing healthcare and US$ 54 million spent each year on health care.
Economic impacts of poor sanitation in Africa
But Ghana is not alone in economic loses. In its key messages, the World Bank study shows that open defecation alone accounts for almost US$ 2 billion in annual losses in 18 African countries which will require a total of 23,305,000 (23.3 million) toilets to curb the practice.
The countries analysed are Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
"More than 114 million people still defecate in the open in the 18 countries analysed; this is about half the number of people on the continent who have no latrine at all and defecate in the open and almost 24% of the total population in the countries surveyed.”
"Eliminating the practice of open defecation in these countries would require about 23 million toilets to be built and used,” the report states.
Adding that open defecation costs more per person than any other type of unimproved sanitation, the report indicates further: "Each person without access to a toilet can spend up to 2.5 days a year finding a private location to defecate, resulting in losses totalling almost US$ 500 million in access time annually due to open defecation for the 18 countries surveyed.
The study also points out that "Women shoulder a huge proportion of this cost, as they spend additional time accompanying young children or sick or elderly relatives to relieve themselves, as well as time spent finding a safe place for urination.
The burden of poor sanitation falls disproportionately on the poor. "In all countries, the poorest people are more likely to practice open defecation than the wealthiest people”, "The poorest people have to pay disproportionately more for the negative effects of poor sanitation,” the study says.
The desk study discloses that the 18 African countries investigated, annually lose about US$ 5.5 billion due to poor sanitation.
"These countries account for 448 million people, which is almost half of Africa’s population; "The annual economic losses due to poor sanitation are equivalent to between 1% and 2.5% of GDP,” according to the study.
It however states that "The true cost could be much higher: these analyses only deal with losses due to premature deaths, healthcare costs, losses in productivity, and time lost through the practice of open defecation.”
"Other impacts of inadequate sanitation likely to be significant, but difficult and expensive to estimate and therefore not included, include the costs of epidemic outbreaks; losses in trade and tourism revenue; impact of unsafe excreta disposal on water resources; and the long-term effects of poor sanitation on early childhood development,” says the study.
Lack of investments in sanitation
Meanwhile, in most countries, current investments in sanitation are less than 0.1% of GDP, according to available figures.
Additionally, "According to the 2011 eThekwini commitments monitoring carried out by countries, currently only five of the 18 countries analysed invest more than 0.1% of GDP in sanitation, while most countries invest less than 0.1% of GDP,” the report indicates.
It says "Although African countries committed to increase their budgetary allocations for sanitation to at least 0.5% of GDP (eThekwini Declaration, 2008), none of the 18 countries surveyed has reached that target yet.
These findings make a strong case for increased investments in sanitation, increased attention to the bottlenecks constraining delivery of sanitation services, specific pro-poor policies, and the elimination of open defecation, the World Bank desk study recommends.
Why we openly defecate
In a bid to find out why people openly defecate despite the shame associated with exposure during the act, the Ghana Watsan Journalists Network (GWJN) in 2010 embarked on a year-long campaign dubbed “Drop it in a hole”, during which some notorious sites noted for open defecation were visited and interviews conducted.
60-year-old Harisu Mohammed explained that there is no toilet facility where he lives and the nearest public facility is about 30 minutes walk from the compound house he shares with many other tenants, hence his resort to the open storm drain every day on his way to work.
For his part, 31-year-old Kweku Nyarko an apprentice driver who had also just finished emptying his bowels inside the same open storm drain just behind a very popular hotel, said his main reason was the lack of access to a facility in his rented residence.
He said he lives in Kokomlemle, a suburb of Accra with about 40 tenants but with no toilet facility with the nearest public toilet about seven minutes walk from where he lives.
“It is more convenient to do it in the gutter and a large number of my colleagues do the same and when we have stomach upset we defecate into black polythene backs and throw them into the drain,” he said.
Any hope in sight?
In an exclusive interview with a Programmes Officer of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate (EHSD), Mr. Kweku Quansah at the fringes of the recently held national durbar in Accra to commemorate Global Handwashing Day, he said in order to tackle the issue of open defecation in Ghana, the media must be used to educate the populace.
“For me the way forward is to critically look at mass media campaigns and one-on-one campaigns, adding it to what we call community-led total sanitation.”
“Within the embodiment of community led total sanitation we have behaviour change, where we lead people to appreciate that there is the need to stop open defecation, and I can assure you, open defecation is so dangerous that 5,100 Ghanaian children die every year as a result of people eating faeces and getting diarrhoea etc,” he added.
Mr. Kweku Quansah, who was so full of praise for the people of the Upper West Region of Ghana where open defecation is rife, for taking the initiative to build household latrines through community-led total sanitation, urged the media to join in the crusade against open defecation, since it is one sure way of curbing the menace.
For urban areas though, he urged city authorities to enforce the sanitation by-laws, especially that which makes it mandatory for house owners and landlords to include toilets in their buildings.
“In the bigger cities, our building regulations tell us that if you build a house you should provide latrine, therefore there is the need for us to enforce those regulations,” he stressed.
In 2010, the UN General Assembly recognised sanitation and water as a human right, essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights. This breakthrough decision not only provides a major argument to all those sanitation advocates; it constitutes an important step towards turning these rights into a reality for everyone.
The human rights approach is particularly concerned with the people who do not have access to safe sanitation. It looks at the reasons why, and tries to find ways to overcome those barriers. It seeks to address inequalities by targeting the most vulnerable, such as women, children, people with disabilities, the chronically ill or the poorest of the poor.
Governments that have recognised the right to sanitation have, by doing so, signed up to establishing a plan of action and agreed to take concrete steps to ensure that, over time, all people gain access to sanitation – this is known as “progressive realisation”, says the UN.
If the world is really serious about turning this right into a reality, though, more, and concerted action is needed. Not only politicians, but also businesses, donors, development agencies, NGOs, media and communities will need to redouble their commitments and efforts, the world body maintains.
The way forward
Perhaps a statement by Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation in 2011 that “ Ensuring access to sanitation for all, which is safe, affordable, acceptable and sufficient, requires multiple interventions from different stakeholders, leadership, an enabling environment, and an engaged population willing and able to claim their rights,” needs to be considered, if the canker of open defecation in Ghana, Africa and the world is to be dealt a severe blow.
For after all, as great Indian Leader Mahatma Gandhi said in 1925, “Sanitation is more important than independence.”
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#1. To: Tooconservative (#0)
Even most wild ANIMALS know enough not to shit where they live. Never feed the ANIMALS... they will grow dependent.
I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
Sorry, I don't have the stamina to read this whole article. Well actually, I'm not sorry. But yes indeed, plumbing is taken for granted.
Isn't that the point? Countries where it isn't? South American countries have some problems too but not on the scale seen in Africa and some others. I don't think countries like Ecuador completely fail to provide clean water and sanitation facilities.
Well, if you got to go, you got to go. Same way our great grand fathers did, when public toilets were not available.
Centuries back, yeah. It isn't that hard to build an outhouse.
If this were an issue here, I would, rest assured, not be here. Ecuador by and large has adequate plumbing in even the smallest towns. As far as I know, the indigenous living in remote areas under simple conditions without plumbing would at least have latrines & outhouses, or better yet, composting toilets which if maintained, are almost as good as regular plumbing toilets. In all my time here, I have never heard of a single report of people conducting business in open public places. Can we change the subject please?
That was what I thought. And the other major South America are much the same. I mention it because there's no good reason the African countries couldn't do as well.
It isn't that hard to build an outhouse. Two centuries, about. In Poland one century. But for countless centuries (and for the most of white Western civilization) our ancestors did as in Ghana still many people do. They are just behind, our civilization developed gradually for 5 thousand years. They need to catch up with it in a few generations. When Korea was still poor, 70 years ago, people like you saw them as subhuman. Yet now you will not dare. No need to boast. Your real culture shows not in the size of your wallet or if you have indoor plumbing or outhouse, but in your respect to other human beings.
They will, so far as you do not try to "help" them like in Libya.
More than 80 years ago, Polish minister of Internal Affairs (Slawoj Skladkowski) issued an order to the semi-literate villagers (80% of population) to build outhouses. There were riots and police had to be sent. Now their standards not worse than Americans, and much better than Americans had in 1940s. Outhouses are rare and still they are called slawojka :)
I did hear one fellow expat claiming he saw one case of it in Bolivia. Bolivia is SA's 1st or 2nd poorest country, competing with French Guiana, I think. Well, since we're on the topic, 2 environmental factors could contribute to this. One is water availability. Water toilets require plumbing, and in desert climates where water is very scare, plumbing would be senseless to install in the first place, making water toilets to some degree a luxury item. The second issue may be diet. I think African diets are much higher in beans and grains and much lower on meat compared to European and American diets. This may make the resulting material somewhat less disgusting than it is for those of higher meat protein intake.
More than 80 years ago, Polish minister of Internal Affairs (Slawoj Skladkowski) issued an order to the semi-literate villagers (80% of population) to build outhouses. There were riots and police had to be sent. Hmmm.... That certainly gives pause to one who opposes central authority over the masses, doesn't it?
You mistake me for a Japanese. I'm not. You're wrong. People with indoor plumbing are better human beings than the open-defecators who spread diseases among themselves and everyone who comes into contact with them. There really isn't anything so virtuous about spreading cholera. But it is virtuous to wipe out cholera.
That is why in less developed societies benevolent dictatorships might be much better than democracy brought there from good ole USA like in Libya.
You mistake me for a Japanese. I'm not. You seem to be worse. You tempt the Just Lord. You might end up without indoor plumbing.
Again, if South America can get it done in a reasonable number of decades, why not Africa? There's no good excuse really. Well, since we're on the topic, 2 environmental factors could contribute to this. One is water availability. Water toilets require plumbing, and in desert climates where water is very scare, plumbing would be senseless to install in the first place, making water toilets to some degree a luxury item. The second issue may be diet. I think African diets are much higher in beans and grains and much lower on meat compared to European and American diets. This may make the resulting material somewhat less disgusting than it is for those of higher meat protein intake. You can always build outhouses. If necessary, you empty them into wagons drawn by horses, camels or cattle. Latrines are not rocket science. There is a sort of implicit racism in this idea that rural people in Africa or in India just can't be expected to do better. Of course they can. Unless you really do think they are an utterly inferior race incapable of any improvement. Yet we know this is not the case.
For the sin of not making excuses for open-defecators ruining their own countries by turning them into shitholes, rife with disease? Perhaps you are worshiping cholera more than God.
Now the "International Community" is waging war against Yemen. As a result infrastructure collapsed and cholera is spreading on mass scale.Thanks to guys like you.
Sure, I'm the warlord of Yemen. You're delusional. I assume you're making such stupid remarks because you have nothing constructive or persuasive to offer.
You're delusional. I assume you're making such stupid remarks because you have nothing constructive or persuasive to offer. Yeah,he's delusional as well as defensive. He is one of the few remaining "true believer" communists in the world,and he exists solely to try to drag down the western world to the point where it seems to be as bad as communism. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
IDK what you all are complaining about. At least these folks are extruding Lincoln logs in the free and open air. The real shithole in the United States Capitol where the inhabitants relieve themselves on the Constitution each and every day.
Those things aren't Lincoln logs. Please stop making your "special donations" to the charity toy drive box at X-mas. Thank you.
Now that we know what areas that you like to sniff around, we will avoid those locations. I generally drop my old duds off at front door of the Goodwill.
"Defensive"? What do you mean?
"No good Excuse" .... "can't be expected"... Every culture will progress at it's own pace. It's not as though they have to answer to any other culture.
Fine. As long as they don't pretend to be anything other than shitholes. I am mostly on an open-defecation tear because all these people in the media have good cause to know the conditions in the Third World. In Africa, you can call those countries the Turd World because that is a more accurate description.
I can remember being In New Orleans one time, and some guy (probably homeless) dropped his pants in the middle of the street and kneeled and took a big diarreah dump right there. He looked like an embarrassed dog looking around thinking, "hey, what am I supposed to do?"
The homeless are a problem everywhere. It's just a fact. I approve of cities that make an effort to provide indestructible public toilets. Even the homeless should be able to find a toilet when nature calls. It's a basic public health issue. You do it for the homeless but just as much for the health of the public.
Ah.... so that's the reasons for these postings. Okay.
30 posts... that's a lot of shit talk. lol I'm the infidel... Allah warned you about. كافر المسلح
I just wanted to establish that shithole countries are those that aren't smart enough to dig a hole to dump their shit in. I'm just not all that sympathetic to the open-defecators.
"shit" is the word you use most often. I wonder why is that? Problems with constipation?
"Defensive"? What do you mean? Your kneejerk reaction is to always attack capitalism and defend communism. Your ideology failed because it's contrary to human nature,but you will always defend it because deep down in your heart you know you can't survive if left on your own. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
Nice theory,but it won't work because the "law of the jungle" is the prevailing law amongst the homeless. In bad weather the strongest and most violent will set up housekeeping in them,and either keep others from using them,or charge others to use them. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
So where did the Israelites crap when Moses was leading them around the desert for 40 years?
It sounds like you got out of bed on the stupid side this morning.
As for some early Old Testament toilet guidance, Deuteronomy 23 instructs the Jewish people to "have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement." https://toilet-guru.com/biblical_old.php
Well sweet, sweet Jezuss... Why izzit I can't remember Pat Robertson ever telling me about that one???
You are a bad boy.
Nice reminder.
Yeah... maybe... But I bet Deuteronomy doesn't say anything about wiping their behinds with toilet papyrus before burying it with the spade
Wasn't there a song about this, something about how "In the days of old, when knights were bold, and toilets weren't invented, you'd lay your load upon the road and walk away contented"?
I don't recall it but that seems pretty specific. Sounds kind of limerick-ish. Maybe some old saucy Broadway tune or vaudeville ditty?
More research indicates that this "In the days of old when knights were bold" is a generic meme that people use as a base to write their own jokes. Kind of like all the different "Roses are red..." limericks. Apparently, this comes from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Reddit: Let's hear your best "In days of old when knights were bold..." gag! It seems that it is based on a poem several centuries old. Here's another from NYC in the Fifties:
In the days of old When nights were bold And bras were not invented, You tie some ropes around your slopes That's how they were invented!
No no, it's "and babies were prevented". The lyric must fit the meter, apres tout!
I'm still not sure if Chaucer was the source or some obscure English poet.
Obviously Shakespeare.
Okay. I'm glad it's obvious to you. : )
Nice reminder. Had a good ol Southern Baptist CO in the first Gulf War. We were on the move a lot training during Desert Shield getting ready for the ground war. He held to this outside the camp go potty and bury it. Unfortunately, we were on very large flat plain so when you had to take a potty squat the entire company would see it. Some would gather and wave.
The military is still a little like a prison: if you join, you'd better not value your privacy too much. Most combat troops have these experiences. I notice they seem to laugh about it even if it probably wasn't so funny at the time. And it is part of being a good guest to at least bury feces. When it dries, the fecal dust can blow long distances to contaminate water and everything else. At least he didn't require the OT standard (referenced above) of going up to several kilometers to have a BM.
Well we are all in it together so make the best of it.
Well, in the end, we all gotta poop somewhere. And it isn't something that the Army can leave up to the troops to figure out for themselves. Otherwise, you end up with situations like the Civil War where they sometimes had a latrine area upstream from their drinking water. There are reasons why a majority of deaths in armies throughout history were due to disease, at least until the last century or so. Private Dumbass will shit anywhere if you don't give him orders to do otherwise.
The 1st Sergeant had a deluxe set up for his open desert potty time. He took an old metal folding chair and blowtorched a hole in the middle. Drove his HUMVEE out a bit, set up shop and gave himself some cover with the HUMVEE door. Pretty ingenious. He even got some foam and tape and made a little seat so his tush wouldn't be on the metal. The rest of us just took our standard issue entrenching tool bent it at 90 degrees and did our business. After digging out hole that is.
Sweet.
#2. To: Tooconservative (#0)
#3. To: Pinguinite (#2)
But yes indeed, plumbing is taken for granted.
#4. To: Tooconservative (#0)
#5. To: A Pole (#4)
Same way our great grand fathers did, when public toilets were not available.
#6. To: Tooconservative (#3)
South American countries have some problems too but not on the scale seen in Africa and some others. I don't think countries like Ecuador completely fail to provide clean water and sanitation facilities.
#7. To: Pinguinite (#6)
If this were an issue here, I would, rest assured, not be here. Ecuador by and large has adequate plumbing in even the smallest towns. As far as I know, the indigenous living in remote areas under simple conditions without plumbing would at least have latrines & outhouses, or better yet, composting toilets which if maintained, are almost as good as regular plumbing toilets.
#8. To: Tooconservative, Vicomte13 (#5)
(Edited)
Centuries back, yeah.
#9. To: Tooconservative (#7)
I mention it because there's no good reason the African countries couldn't do as well.
#10. To: Pinguinite (#6)
(Edited)
As far as I know, the indigenous living in remote areas under simple conditions without plumbing would at least have latrines & outhouses, or better yet, composting toilets which if maintained, are almost as good as regular plumbing toilets.
#11. To: Tooconservative (#7)
That was what I thought. And the other major South America are much the same.
I mention it because there's no good reason the African countries couldn't do as well.
#12. To: A Pole (#10)
#13. To: A Pole (#8)
...When Korea was still poor, 70 years ago, people like you saw them as subhuman. Yet now you will not dare.
Your real culture shows not in the size of your wallet or if you have indoor plumbing or outhouse, but in your respect to other human beings.
#14. To: Pinguinite (#12)
That certainly gives pause to one who opposes central authority over the masses, doesn't it?
#15. To: Tooconservative (#13)
(Edited)
...When Korea was still poor, 70 years ago, people like you saw them as subhuman. Yet now you will not dare.
People with indoor plumbing are better human beings
#16. To: Pinguinite, A Pole (#11)
I did hear one fellow expat claiming he saw one case of it in Bolivia. Bolivia is SA's 1st or 2nd poorest country, competing with French Guiana, I think.
#17. To: A Pole (#15)
You tempt the Just Lord. You might end up without indoor plumbing.
#18. To: Tooconservative (#13)
There really isn't anything so virtuous about spreading cholera. But it is virtuous to wipe out cholera.
#19. To: A Pole (#18)
Now the "International Community" is waging war against Yemen. As a result infrastructure collapsed and cholera is spreading on mass scale.Thanks to guys like you.
#20. To: Tooconservative, A Pole (#19)
Sure, I'm the warlord of Yemen.
#21. To: Tooconservative (#13)
People with indoor plumbing are better human beings than the open-defecators who spread diseases
#22. To: randge (#21)
At least these folks are extruding Lincoln logs in the free and open air.
#23. To: Tooconservative (#22)
#24. To: sneakypete (#20)
Yeah,he's ... defensive.
#25. To: Tooconservative (#16)
why not Africa? There's no good excuse really.
#26. To: Pinguinite (#25)
Every culture will progress at it's own pace. It's not as though they have to answer to any other culture.
#27. To: Tooconservative (#0)
#28. To: no gnu taxes (#27)
#29. To: Tooconservative (#26)
#30. To: Tooconservative (#28)
(Edited)
#31. To: GrandIsland (#30)
30 posts... that's a lot of shit talk.
#32. To: GrandIsland, Tooconservative (#30)
that's a lot of shit talk.
#33. To: A Pole (#24)
Yeah,he's ... defensive.
#34. To: Tooconservative (#28)
I approve of cities that make an effort to provide indestructible public toilets. Even the homeless should be able to find a toilet when nature calls. It's a basic public health issue. You do it for the homeless but just as much for the health of the public.
#35. To: Tooconservative (#28)
The homeless are a problem everywhere. It's just a fact.
Did they carry Port-A-Potties around with them?
Or is that why they made a ritual of washing their feet all the time?
#36. To: Willie Green (#35)
#37. To: Willie Green (#35)
#38. To: no gnu taxes, Tooconservative (#37)
Deuteronomy 23 instructs the Jewish people to "have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement."
#39. To: Willie Green (#38)
Why izzit I can't remember Pat Robertson ever telling me about that one???
#40. To: no gnu taxes, redleghunter (#37)
As for some early Old Testament toilet guidance, Deuteronomy 23 instructs the Jewish people to "have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement."
#41. To: A Pole (#39)
You are a bad boy.
#42. To: Tooconservative (#0)
#43. To: Vicomte13 (#42)
#44. To: Vicomte13 (#42)
(Edited)
In days of old
when knights were bold
and rubbers weren't invented
they'd just put socks
upon their cocks
and pregnancy was prevented. In days of old when knights were bold
and paper not invented
they’d wipe their ass
with bits of grass
which left them freshly scented
#45. To: Tooconservative (#44)
#46. To: Tooconservative (#44)
In days of old when knights were bold and rubbers weren't invented they'd just put socks upon their cocks and pregnancy was prevented.
#47. To: Vicomte13 (#46)
#48. To: Tooconservative (#47)
I'm still not sure if Chaucer was the source or some obscure English poet.
#49. To: Vicomte13 (#48)
#50. To: Tooconservative, no gnu taxes (#40)
As for some early Old Testament toilet guidance, Deuteronomy 23 instructs the Jewish people to "have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement."
#51. To: redleghunter (#50)
(Edited)
Unfortunately, we were on very large flat plain so when you had to take a potty squat the entire company would see it. Some would gather and wave.
#52. To: Tooconservative (#51)
Most combat troops have these experiences. I notice they seem to laugh about it even if it probably wasn't so funny at the time.
#53. To: redleghunter (#52)
#54. To: Tooconservative (#53)
#55. To: redleghunter (#54)
He even got some foam and tape and made a little seat so his tush wouldn't be on the metal.
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