Celebrate your can, because you can

The following post is by Erin Swanson, who attends Woods Chapel ::

Hi friends, it’s me again. If you missed my post in October, you can read it here. Jeff kindly agreed to let me guest post again today because it is one of my favorite holidays: World Toilet Day!

Nope, I’m absolutely not joking. Today I ask you to join me in taking a second and think about your toilet. Would it shock you to know that more people on earth have cell phones than access to a toilet? Fecal matter is the leading cause of infection worldwide. And in India alone, the number of people who practice open defecation is double the population of the U.S.

Pretty outrageous. Especially because only 100 years ago, we faced the same problems and disease from lack of safe water and sanitation that the developing world suffers from today. It was sweeping reforms in these areas that allowed human development and economic progress to leap forward.

I think the hope we have right now is twofold. 1) It is all preventable, and the solutions are simple and cost-effective. 2) We can do something about it. And we are! The Woods Chapel community is participating in Advent Conspiracy beginning at the end of this week, to raise money for sustainable water and sanitation programs in two communities in rural Haiti through Water.org.

[Water.org is a KC-based international nonprofit that has been working with communities around the world to deliver sustainable water and sanitation solutions for 20 years. I’ve worked here for almost 2 ½ years, loving it, and learning that sanitation, water, and health and hygiene go hand-in-hand. When all of these are implemented together in a project, change is long-term and life-changing. It’s all about the holistic approach!]

And so today, I ask you to do a few things:

1) Reflect on the importance of a toilet, a safe place to take care of business. Maybe read “Four Ways a Toilet Can Change a Girl’s Life” and see the transformation that comes from getting a toilet for the first time.

2) Check out and send this link about World Toilet Day [complete with funny toilet facts, shocking facts, and ways to spread the word on the social networks] to a friend, coworker, or family member.

3) Check out some pictures of toilets from around the world.

4) Talk about Advent Conspiracy with your family, the life-changing power of clean water and a toilet, and how you’d like to participate the month of December. Water.org can bring one person clean water for life for only $25, and a toilet for only $30.

5) Pray for those in need around the world, and ways that we can best work with them to obtain access to life’s most basic and precious necessities.

6) Take some time to see what God can show you and do in your heart. The theme/symbol of water is a really neat one to see used throughout His Word.

7) And if you have time, watch this great 4 minute video of some young students in India talk about the importance a toilet.

Thank you, dear family, for reading/listening to me again, and for joining me on this journey! I can’t tell you how excited I am for Advent Conspiracy, and to share in this important work with you.

Happy World Toilet Day!
Erin