We need to go on an Urgent Run!
Many of us, especially in Singapore take the convenience of a clean toilet for granted. But for 1 billion people in the world today, a toilet is nothing more than a pipe dream. World Toilet Organization (WTO) estimates that, this is the number of people today who face the indignity of defecating in the open without proper sanitary conditions. Until a few months ago, I was not aware of this fact. Here are two other facts, I did not know of, and I wager neither do you. (source: WTO)
- A lack of clean and safe toilets at schools leads to higher dropout among girls once they reach puberty.
- Diarrhoeal diseases – a direct consequence of poor sanitation – kill more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
According to the WTO website, WTO was founded on 19 November 2001. They are a global non-profit committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide. WTO empowers individuals through education, training and building local marketplace opportunities to advocate for clean and safe sanitation facilities in their communities.
To raise awareness of the importance of clean toilets and the ills that can come about without clean toilets the WTO has organised for the very first time the Urgent Run in Singapore.
The Urgent Run will be held on the 5th of November 2016 at Angsana Green. Along the beach at East Coast Park, this is one of my favourite running routes. Cooled by the sea breeze and kissed by the sun, running here is pleasure.
prepping for the urgent run
We are all prepped and will be running this race, my wife Sharon, friends from NUS and some of my Run4life trainees. Do join us and read about it in the coming posts.