A YOUNG woman travelled to Tanzania to improve access to safe water and sanitation in schools, in aid of World Toilet Day.

Amber Whitelock, 20, from Billericay, witnessed first-hand the need for toilets in the rural community of Msunjilile, and volunteered with sustainable development charity Raleigh International, as part of a UK government funded programme, International Citizen Service (ICS).

World Toilet Day is a day dedicated to increasing awareness about the importance of toilets for health and sanitation.

Amber said: "When I first arrived at the school in Msunjilile village, I realised how limited the toilet and sanitation facilities were.

"The school welcomed over five hundred students a day, but they only had six latrines. These latrines were not only falling apart, but they had no doors, no hand washing facilities, water was not being provided for washing away waste and the female students had no access to menstrual hygiene facilities.

"The toilet facilities were neglected and seen as unimportant. The first time I saw the toilets I felt heartbroken. I couldn’t imagine, particularly as a female, being expected to use such exposing facilities.

"I realised how necessary the project we were about to undertake truly was."

Amber worked alongside Tanzanian volunteers and lived with a local host family for 12 weeks, which enabled her to integrate into the community and gain a better understanding of the challenges people living there face.

Amber added: "Our team of volunteers built a brand-new toilet block for the students of Msunjilile School.

"This toilet block contained a disabled toilet, hand washing facilities and a menstrual hygiene room for the female students. "Alongside constructing the toilet block, we educated the community across all areas of water, sanitation and hygiene.

"We taught lessons in the school each day, in order to provide the children with an array of information about various hygiene topics.

"In addition to educating the local children, we held regular mobilisation meetings with the wider community.

"It was important for us to educate the whole community on the importance of clean water and sanitation so that the project would be sustainable for the future.

"To engage the community further, we held community action days where we played games, invited local performers and gave speeches about our project.

"We spent time building a close relationship with the local council and school council, providing them with a wide range of information on maintaining our new toilet facilities for the students.

"The education, resources and facilities that we helped to provide will enable the community to educate the following generations and continue towards a positive and sustainable development."

When Amber spoke of her experience in Tanzania, she said: "Completing the project and leaving my host family was an overwhelming experience.

"I felt happy to be leaving a community, who had welcomed me so kindly into their lives, with a long lasting and sustainable set of tools to improve health and sanitation facilities.

"While it was an amazing feeling, I also felt a sense of sadness to leave the village which had become my home.

"World Toilet Day is so incredibly important. In Britain it would be unimaginable to send your child to school knowing they would have six toilets to share with five hundred other students, where they would be unable to wash their hands, close a door or even flush away their waste.

"You would not send your child to a school where the toilets were falling down. For those living in developing countries, this is reality."

The UN estimates that 4.5 billion people around the world live without adequate toilet facilities.

One fifth of schools worldwide do not provide any toilet facilities.

Raleigh ICS volunteers is aiming to change these shocking statistics.

If you are between the ages of 18 and 25, and would like to volunteer, visit raleighinternational.org