VIP loos

Enoch and his family survived the bitter nine year Bougainville civil war by fleeing into the hills. After the conflict, they returned to their village to find it completely destroyed. Enoch knew good sanitation would be as vital for keeping the village children alive as protecting them from soldiers.

So with a little help from Oxfam, toilets became his practical, yet lifesaving, solution.

Sirovai village is on the coast of Central Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and the soil is very sandy. When residents first tried to dig pits for latrines, the ground just caved in.

With Oxfam's help, they devised a simple and ingenious solution: build a cylinder out of wood, coat it with cement, remove the original wood frame to use again, climb inside the cement cylinder, and dig out the soil.

The concrete liner sinks down into the ground and then a toilet slab and super structure can be built on top, completing the VIP (Ventilated Improved Pit) latrine.

As an extra benefit to the community, Oxfam pays villagers to do the labour. When complete, there will be one toilet for each family in the village. You can support people like Enoch with Oxfam Unwrapped: buy the gift of a toilet today.