Overheard in Toronto

A group of school children attended yesterday.  Their teacher had followed the lesson plans that we have on the refugeecamp.ca website with enthusiasm; the whole morning the children had only eaten the same food the refugees tend to be given – rice and beans cooked with oil and salt.  It seems the children understood the purpose of the task but were a little unimpressed with the lack of ketchup.

When we show people the latrines that refugees use, we tend to ask if anyone has seen the “squat plate” style before.  1 lady told Delphine her story about her first experience.  She had been travelling in India and jumped off the bus at a stop to use the washroom facilities.  She saw just the hole in the floor and assuming the toilet had been removed, returned to the bus without making use of the facilities.  The same story repeated at the second bus stop.  It wasn’t until she discovered the third “theft” of the toilet that she could only squat above the hole in the floor, unable to wait any longer.  She was very impressed with herself, thinking she had overcome the theft of the toilet and found a solution.  That was until she discovered that all the washrooms use the squat style.  I think it was very brave of her to admit the story in public.