The Day My Daughter Changed My World

Today my fourteen-year-old daughter changed my life in the most sensational fashion.

Each day, when she gets home from school, we sit and chat about how we spent the eight hours we were apart, what we learnt and the things we saw.

For me, I told her about how the gardener chopped down the tree outside to make it safe for summer and how we were having spaghetti bolognese for dinner. It was pretty mundane on my behalf.

That was especially so when Lily (my daughter) told me about how her grade 9 class was learning about developing countries, how they had learned about sanitation and the importance of washing their hands after going to the bathroom, and how different our toilets were to those in other countries.

It was all very enlightening to hear my daughter talk this way.

And then she told me about Kim “” the little girl in Vietnam who would unknowingly change our lives from millions of miles away.

My daughter said to me: Did you know that globally one child dies every two minutes of diarrhoeal diseases?

I didn’t.

“They are at risk because they do not have access to a clean or safe toilet,” she said, with such confidence it was astounding.

She went on to tell me (in not so technical terms) that is some communities there are simply no toilets available, leaving people with no choice but to defecate outdoors. In particular for girls, this situation can be both very embarrassing and unsafe as there is no privacy.

She then told me the story of Kim “” who at just 16 is changing the lives of a whole community in Vietnam.

Kim lives in a country where, in many places, disease-causing germs spread daily because many people have to go to the toilet out in the open. In urban areas of Vietnam, many people have access to modern toilets but in the rural areas where Kim lives, it is not as common. So Kim was one of many who grew up without a safe place to go to the toilet.

My daughter said that Kim was her inspiration, that she is already working to improve sanitation in her community, involved in one of Domestos and UNICEF’s school-led sanitation programmes, which educate children on the need for improved sanitation. UNICEF’s work focuses on driving behaviour change, particularly with children.

After participating in the sanitation programme, Kim convinced her family to save money to build a working toilet. She saw how children were getting sick and missing school because of poor sanitation and how a working toilet could make a difference in her community. She did not want any more children dying because of disease-causing germs.

“There are a lot of good reasons to have a toilet,” Kim said. “It is convenient and is not embarrassing”¦It’s very embarrassing and unhealthy to have to go in the open. It makes the environment smelly and contaminated.”

Now Kim has access to a safe toilet, she can avoid falling sick and has more time at school. She also wants more children to convince their parents to save up and have a toilet at home.

Kim got her entire family involved in her mission to have a safe toilet for her and those in her community. So why not be inspired by Kim and help UNICEF continue doing their work and improve the situation of people who aren’t so lucky?

Here is the simple way we decided to help “” and you can too.

Domestos has partnered with UNICEF to help children like Kim learn about the importance of a toilet. By buying a specially marked bottle of Domestos, a portion of your money will directly contribute to the UNICEF Sanitation Programme.

Domestos and UNICEF have also created a Dunny Donation Kit to help fundraise among your family and friends. You can download and print the Dunny Donation kit and information sheet here and stick them up on the back of the dunny door.

Explain to your family and any guests that you are raising funds for UNICEF’s sanitation programme and that a coin donation each time they go to the loo would be most appreciated. You can donate the funds you collect to UNICEF here.

Although it is fun to collect the donations, it’s also a simple reminder of just how grateful we should be that we have access to a clean and safe toilet and that people around the world could really benefit from having one of their own.

Be sure to let us know how you go with your Dunny Donation Kit what types of responses did you get from family and friends?

If children like Kim can change things for the better so can you. Let’s act now and make a difference together!