Fundraising appeal to help twin a toilet in Feniton to help communities in Burundi enjoy a better life.

A FENITON reverend and her congregation are helping build a better life for communities in Burundi by joining a national campaign to flush away poverty.

Reverend Cate Edmonds has been on a mission to twin the toilets in her parish and is preparing to launch her latest fund-raising campaign to twin her seventh loo in the parish.

The Toilet Twinning scheme is run by international charities Cord and Tearfund, which allows people to transform the lives of poor communities in Africa by linking their loo with a latrine in the remote Giharo Commune of Rutana Province, Burundi.

Since the scheme launched in 2009 more than 1,600 latrines have been built in Burundi – providing safe loos for nearly 10,000 people.

The charities use the money raised to help households have their own toilet and enjoy better health by bringing safe, clean and hygienic sanitation to poor communities around the world.

Reverend Edmonds said: “When CORD contacted me three or four years ago I decided I was going to start twinning toilets in my parish churches in Payhembury, Escot and Feniton.

“We all relate to the need to go to the toilet and the idea has struck a cord with many people.

“I’ve twinned six toilets and I hope to continue to keep twinning toilets.”

The church wanted to share its good fortune after restoring St Andrew’s Church in Feniton after it was flooded, by hosting a coffee morning to raise money the �60 needed to twin its toilet.

She added: “After the flooding of St Andrew’s we rebuilt the inside of the church and now have our own toilet so we thought it was time to twin it.

“I am pleased that we can help even in a small way that can possibly save the life of a child from dying of sanitation related diseases that makes me feel quite that we can do that and support others to make that happen.

“Get twinning. For such a small amount of money it makes a big difference to a large number of people.

“It is about our community doing something for a community several thousand miles away to give them a better standard of living.”

She has also encouraged schools within her parish to get involved in fund-raising activities to twin their own toilets.

This is just the beginning for Reverend Cate’s twinning plans so we better watch this space.

The coffee morning is being held at St Andrew’s Church on Saturday, September 3, from 10am.

For more information on toilet twinning visit http://www.toilettwinning.org/