Why are Bhutanese Toilets so dirty?

For a country as beautiful as Bhutan, the condition of our toilet is an ugly scar on the face. It begs the question, why are Bhutanese Toilets so dirty? The answer is, we let it be; we tolerate it. We grew up with dirty toilets everywhere, that we built natural tolerance for dirty toilets. So, when we see a dirty toilet, we find it NORMAL. We hardly complain. 

 

My name is Chablop PaSsu. I am the founder of Bhutan Toilet Organization, and let me tell you that it’s NOT Normal for toilets to be dirty. I beg you to complain when you see a dirty toilet. 

 

Remember, when we saw a picture of a guy climbing on a chorten, there was a massive outrage in our society (or at least on social media) because it was not normal to climb on a chorten. I wish if people could respond like that when they see a toilet that is left insanely dirty, because even that’s not normal. 

 

We shape our concept of the toilet based on the kind of toilet we accept as normal.

 

Concept of Toilet 

 

Let me redefine the concept of a toilet for you. It is the happiness room that we failed to acknowledge. People go in that room with many forms of discomfort and always come out happy; For example, you badly need to urinate or have an upset tummy. You run looking for a toilet in much pain and fear of humiliation in case you can’t hold it anymore. At that moment, the sight of a toilet brings you a sense of relief. Once you get inside, you experience the ultimate happiness. You are so grateful to the toilet that you are willing to do anything for the toilet. If we could trap on this very emotion and commitment, toilet problems in the country will be solved, but unfortunately, we have a very short memory. 

 

Every morning, you wake up feeling low; your mouth is stinking, your eyes are sticky, your nose is stuffy, and your hair is messy. You walk into the happiness room, brush your teeth, wash your face, clean your nose, and do your hair, and by the time you come out from there, you are a new person, ready to seize the day. Anyone who goes to the little room comes back a little happier, so isn’t that room magical? Isn’t it the happiness room? 

That is the concept of the toilet that we Bhutanese are unaware of. That’s why it’s not trendy to show off your toilet. We rather invest in a huge sofa, showcase, and TV in the sitting room, while the toilet remains tiny, dingy and stinky with many broken things inside it. Someone once told me that we Bhutanese wear expensive Gho and Keera over torn and faded underwear. We have misplaced our priorities. 

 

We think a toilet is a dirty little room for us to pee and poop. Even so, of all the rooms in your house, the toilet is the only room that every family member uses at least five times a day. Yet, we invest the least in the toilet. It’s a sad example of a tragedy of the commons.

 

It's not our fault. It was passed down to us through our genes by our ancestors, who knew little about the toilet. But it will be our fault if we pass down the same stinky legacy to our children despite all the knowledge and exposure. We have come a long way, and much has changed, but we are still stuck with dirty toilets.

 

Everyone loves a clean toilet, yet collectively, we don't work towards getting it. It’s strange how the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

 

Attitude & Mindset 

 

Our attitude toward the toilet is a personal affair as long as we keep it to ourselves, but when we project that in a group or society, it has consequences. It’s worse if you are an important person because it has a significant bearing on your decisions.

 

Let me share a story of setting up and managing toilets during major national events. You know how important it is to have toilet facilities during big public events. But you don’t know that we get last-minute notice to come and set up toilets, and there is no budget set aside to build toilets. It hurts when the toilet gets the last priority. On the contrary, a five-minute dance program gets two months of preparation, herding and feeding a few dozen heads. Whereas, the toilet that is used by everyone from morning to evening gets the least importance in the whole scheme of things. 

 

That's just the beginning. The next problem is getting the location for the toilet. Toilets are often given the oddest locations, literally unreachable, perfectly hidden from the view. They would say it’s gross to have a toilet anywhere near. You could see the filthy sight and smell of the toilet right on their face as they explain why we can’t have the toilets in the vicinity. 

 

I get angry, but I don't blame them. I blame the toilets they have suffered in their schools. They carry such bad memory of toilets that they are worried the toilet we will build will be like the ones in their heads.

 

If they had a clean toilet in their head, their decision would be different. They would want us to build the toilet next to the gate and the guest tents to be most convenient for everyone.  

 

I found out that having a profound toilet attitude is critical in leadership. For example, if your school toilet is dirty, it reflects your principal’s ignorance and attitude. If your office toilet is horrible, it has everything to do with your boss’s mentality. He may want his attached toilet to be clean, but you could judge his leadership by the standard of the common office toilet. You do a simple survey and see how it correlates. You will smell it. 

 

The irony goes much deeper in our society; We are a giving society, yet people will hardly share their toilet. Even a small restaurant toilet will put a “Costumers Only” notice. A rich landlord secretly dumps raw sewer from his property into the stream used for washing and drinking by poorer people downstream. A wealthy household talks proudly about having four toilets inside with no regard for the neighbourhood that has no toilet. 

We forget that the flies from a poor neighbour’s open faeces will not discriminate against the people in the rich household. 

 

Changing the Concept 

 

But there is hope. We have seen in short periods we spent around event toilets how people's perceptions change. They visit us at least ten times on the event day (Imagine where would they run to if we didn’t arrange the toilets). The first time they come, they are suspicious. They cover their nose and mouth. When they come out, they look amazed. The next time they come, we see big smiles. And we become friends. The sudden change in their attitude is so satisfying. This is what we work for. This is the sign that we have finally managed to clean the toilet in their head. Next time, we know they will make a decision based on the clean toilet in his head.

 

The same attitude has influenced the locations of public toilets across the country. How many public toilets are there in Thimphu? There are seven in the core town, but you won't know because most of them are strategically hidden from the public view. It's ironic that the public toilets are hidden from public view, but that's what happens when the engineer or the planner has a horrific toilet in their head. They are only doing a favour to the country by hiding them. AND you know when the toilets are located in the shady corners, all sorts of shady things happen there—fights, drugs, theft, and vandalism. 

 

You go to any public toilet and see if everything is in order. I bet you will see that most of them are vandalized, and you will be lucky if at least one flush tank works or you find a proper set of Bucket and Jug to use.

 

For a harmonious and peaceful country, why do our toilets look like we are in a state of war? The answer lies in the same place, the toilet in our heads. If the planners had clean toilets in their heads, we would have public toilets in good locations, and because of the location, we could avoid all sorts of shady activities, from pooping in the washbasin to stealing buckets jugs and TP rolls.

 

Personal Etiquettes 

 

A civilized person will always look for a toilet when they get the call of nature, whereas some of us are still ok with going behind the bush. This habit of going behind the bush is not relevant when you are in a town. That's when you realize how backward you are. But somehow, you manage to find a spot behind a building and shamelessly shit there, knowing that no one will know and no one will even remember. 

 

For that matter, such a person with no regard for toilet etiquettes will do the same even if he finds a toilet. He will use it without appreciating how good it was when he came in and leave with no regard for people who will go after him. The thought process is the same as the person who did it behind the building. No one has seen it; no one will know, and no one will even remember. 

 

But let me tell you, what comes out of you is a PART of you. Even though no one saw you leaving without flushing, when people, who come after you see it, they will not like it. They will spit on it in disgust; you are going to feel the hate. No one will look at your shit and appreciate the shape and the colour of it; they will be disgusted. And the energy is powerful. When they spit on the part of you with such sincere disgust, you will feel it no matter where you are. That’s negative energy invoked by you. You bring out the worst in people as long as the part of you remain there.

 

On the other hand, if you have planted a tree somewhere, every time a person sits in its shade to take rest, the person will feel thankful to the tree, and that powerful and sincere energy of gratefulness will follow you wherever you are like a blessing. Same with a flower you planted that pleases people or a water tap you built that's helping people cool themselves and quench their thirst. What goes around definitely comes around. Let it be the good that goes around.  

 

Next time you are about to leave the toilet unflushed, remember that ugly little part of you will bother many people and that so many curses will follow you. The idea is simple: even a cat knows. A cat digs a hole, poops in it and covers it up. It's nothing attractive to show to the world, so why don't you cover it up with soil if you are in the wild and make an effort to flush it down if you are in a toilet. Don't make your decision based on whether someone is watching or not. “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.” 

 

The job of Toilet Cleaning

 

Cleaning toilet is not one of the most attractive jobs in the world. On top of that, in many cultures, it is a job done by a class of people who are considered very low, untouchables. Lucky for us, we never had a deep-rooted toilet culture, and therefore the idea of the job belonging to any class of people is unfounded. Any notion of stigma attached to cleaning toilet is a borrowed mentality. Let’s shed that off. 

 

Who cleans the toilet at home? Is there a category of people who must do that job? No, it's the job that any family member can do; one who loves cleanliness the most or the one who is good at the art of cleaning, or the one with an open mind to do the job. So, it's not about a class but rather an attitude—a progressive choice. 

 

It’s in primitive and backward societies that such classes are created and discriminated against. In progressive societies like the US and Australia, toilet cleaning is like any other job. Ask hundreds of respected Bhutanese who have taken the job in Australia by choice.

 

Of course, the toilets down there cannot be compared to what we have here, and the difference in the kind of money they get down there and what we pay our cleaners here are almost impossible to fathom. This gives us a deep insight into why the western perspective on the job is different from ours. This will help us understand the reality of things and put our money in the right place. If we say toilet cleaners are important members of staff, we must back it up with good money to make it believable. 

 

Until then, the show must go on. We must work toward uplifting the job to the next level through excellence in performing it and perceiving it. There is no humility greater than the act of cleaning a toilet. 

 

The Liberator 

 

And in doing so, when you clean an unflushed toilet, which was causing distress to many people, you act to liberate that unfortunate person who has done that. That person may be having a bad day somewhere. Not knowing what the hell he did wrong to deserve it, but you have shown mercy on him by removing the burden and setting him free. You liberate that person. You become a liberator. 

 

Not just that, the clean and welcoming toilet that you have created will make every visitor happy, like the tree, flower, water tap I shared about, and the intense, positive energy they emit is the merit you accumulate. It will follow you wherever you are. You will receive their blessings. 

 

Therefore, sometimes I feel the job of cleaning a toilet is a spiritual offering of humility and compassion, the humility of the self and compassion for others. 

 

The Royal Vision of a First World Country

 

During the 113^th National Day address, His Majesty the King shared his vision of propelling Bhutan to a first world country during our lifetime. In the last few years, His Majesty kept mentioning Big Data, AI, Block-Chain, Machine Learning, cryptocurrency, and Space science. 

 

Even if there is nothing we could offer in these big subjects, let us make our individual contribution towards one of the most basic foundations of a first world country- a clean toilet. 

 

Let’s clean the toilets in our heads and around us. 

Let’s stop going behind the bushes. 

Let’s stop tolerating dirty toilet. 

Let’s complain. 

Let’s prepare to become a first-world citizen. 

Toilet Management Training

Since announcing this training a few days ago about 50 people have signed up, out of which some 20 of them are civil servants in officer's position, which means they are not cleaners. While it's encouraging to see non-cleaners showing interest in the training, we would like to focus the training only on the real cleaners who are employed as cleaners. It doesn't matter whether you are in the private or public sector as long as you are a cleaner. 

A little boy manning a public toilet in Jaigoan

The training will cover the following;

1. Building a positive social identity as cleaners and rise above the stigma.

It's a mind game. We want to tell stories to let the cleaners understand the purpose of their work and walk out of our training with pride and self-respect. Of the many stories, we will definitely share about the Janitor who helped Nasa put a Man on the Moon.

In 1962, During a visit to NASA, President John F. Kennedy noticed a janitor carrying a broom down the hallway. He walked over to the man and said, "Hi, I'm Jack Kennedy. What are you doing?"

"Well, Mr President," the janitor responded, "I'm helping put a man on the moon."

2. Understanding a Clean Toilet and knowing what it takes to achieve that.

Cleaners are generally illiterate and come from the poorer section of the society where they make do with basic or no facilities at all. Their idea of a clean toilet may not be clean enough. They need to see their goals with clarity in order to work toward that. 

Giving a short course to Memorial Chorten Toilet Manager 

The venue will be in a good hotel where we could do a practical session in their toilets, and where we could show good examples of toilets to the participants. The two days at the hotel they must see how consistently the toilets are kept well by the hotel staff. 

3. Using the right tools and gears for safety and Dignity 

Using the right tools and gears can not only ensure safety but also make the work really easy and stylish. If we are going to change people's perspectives on cleaning job we must begin with this; a cleaner in a clean uniform with boots and gloves and holding a good mop will give an impression of a passionate worker who knows his job well. It adds dignity to the job. 

4. Basic skilling in plumbing, carpentry, electrical and masonry will be given to skill-up the cleaners to enable them to carry out timely maintenance. If we observe carefully, all big damages start small and gradually. One nail on time can save a toilet from falling apart. But often in the absence of basic skills and accountability, even the most manageable damages are kept aside for the annual maintenance budget. 

5. Use of daily cleaning Checklist to ensure consistency 

By streamlining the job of the cleaners through a daily system of check and balance that will ensure consistency and sustainability. This is effectively used in every organization, including shopping malls in big cities, it's, therefore, high time we introduce it in Bhutan.

-----

Sharing a moment with SJ town toilet manager

If you know someone who needs this training please let them know, and if the person is unable to fill out the form kindly help them. But note that it's only for the cleaners. 

Talking about the overwhelming response we got from general civil servants, some of my friends said it could for the want of a certificate that may be useful while seeking similar jobs in counties like Australia. With no affiliation with any institute in Australia, our certificate, even if we issued one, may not carry any weight at the moment. But, it has opened our eyes to the possibility of a similar arrangement that could help earn revenue for Bhutan Toilet Org from the training course and guarantee employment in the cleaning sector down under. It's a good dream, isn't it?

How Better School Toilets Can Influence Better Public Toilet

Condition of Public toilets of a country is a perfect reflection of its school toilets. We cannot pretend to be surprised to see a scandalising public toilet when we haven’t paid attention to school toilets, where the foundation is built. As is school toilet, so shall public toilet be.

Considering the conditions of school toilets during our school days in the ’90s, we have come a long way but in comparison to the outside world, we are nowhere. There are some school toilet that could infect you just by looking at their pictures, and you can imagine children using them. I personally conclude that the cleanliness of school toilet depends absolutely on the cleanliness of the school leadership.

It’s not the lack of facility but the misuse and negligence of the facility, which can be attributed to a general lack of social ethics in the culture of the school

"The Culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.”-Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker

At home, everyone knows they need to flush after using the toilet, that shoving a solid thing down the toilet would cause blockage, and that when the toilet door is falling apart one needs to nail it back or tell someone to do it, but what happens to that sense of responsibility when a child comes to school? Where does it disappear? What makes them so carefree and mindless? 

Signing MoU with Ministry of Education

This can be best explained as herd mentality, wherein we see that even a well-behaved child tends to be as mindless as the rest of the students. Basically, it’s a crowd of good youths not being good enough collectively. It usually happens among animals and turns out we are animals too. But the good news is that we can influence that herd mentality and turn things around just by influencing a small part of of the group. Five per cent to be precise. And that’s perhaps what we call the building of culture. We focus on the golden five per cent. We have hope. 

However, we need better toilets to make the new beginning but looking at the condition of toilets in schools across the country, we seemed to need a lot of time and lot of money just to set the stage for a new beginning. We can neither afford that much time nor have that amount of money. Therefore, we needed a smart solution to upgrade the old toilets, in record time and at the lowest cost possible. On top of that, the toilet must be resilient enough to withstand the misuse and survive to see the rise of new toilet culture. 



That’s when SATO technology came into the picture. It was the silver bullet we found. Bhutan Toilet Org partnered with UNICEF Bhutan and Ministry of Education to upgrade all old school toilet by 2020 end. From the data available from five Dzongkhag’s we have completed, we are looking at close to 3000 units of toilets at Nu.9 million. This would have cost government over Nu. 240 million if done in a conventional way. 



By the end of 2020, we are expecting to get rid of all pit latrines and aqua privy toilets from the school and have equity in terms of toilet facility across all schools. That’s when we shall see the beginning of a complete shift in the herd mentality. If this goes according to the plan, then in the next five to ten years, public toilets across the country will be in perfect conditions even without caretakers. 

Once school toilet is upgraded, the first great step schools can take toward building good toilet culture in school is by letting teacher share toilet with the students. 

SATO technology is donated to Bhutan Toilet Org by Lixil Japan through Junior Chamber International (JCI). 

Toilet at Drakarpo

In April I visited Drakarpo to choose a loo-cation, I mean location for a toilet. So many people reported to Bhutan Toilet Org about the need for a toilet there and therefore I went there to understand the need to come up with an appropriate design. It was my first visit and I was mesmerised by the whole idea of the pilgrimage on the beautiful alpine hill. I decided to build the same toilet I had designed, in my head, for Chelela Pass.

In my last blog Drakarpo Kora in Paro, I tried to express my love-at-first-sight experience at Drakparo and it was widely read and shared. The article was picked up by a travel magazine as well. Among the many readers, a man from Haa paid special attention to the last one sentence I wrote about the toilet and dropped a short message enquiring about the cost of constructing the toilet. since I had the rough costing done already for Chelela Pass I wrote back to him.

The next thing he asked was our account number where he transferred Nu.50,345, which is exactly half the cost of the project. Because it was two unit toilet he wanted to sponsor one unit. If he had asked me to write a proposal it would have taken forever but he was a practical man. He wanted the toilet and not a proposal.

Putting the pieces of jigsaw together 

I didn't have to wait for the other half of the cost because I already had the solid commitment from my friend Kuenga Lhendup to support me with timber. It was from an old home he had demolished and therefore the most seasoned timber we could ever ask for. To make the design more authentic we needed wooden shingles but who would have thought we could get the old shingles from historic Gangtey Palace. Dasho Tobgye Sonam Dorji didn't even think twice before offering to give us 250 shingles. Now the key element to the design was 'bakal' (still didn't get the English name for it) that my friend Kezang Lhamo Dorji had stocked up for me. In fact, she took care of all the administrative matters that I didn't have the slightest clue about.

Five of us at Bhutan Toilet Org office spent exactly 12 days to bring everything together and convert the design on the paper into real toilet near our office. Looking at the final result people would wonder how in the world five people took twelve days for a small toilet like that but we must admit that we were a bunch of amateurs and therefore our 12 days were actually longer because we stayed up late into the nights and forfeited our weekends. We are improving though.

Besides, we had to hire single-cabin Bolero pickups over a dozen times to collect materials from all over and to finally deliver the toilet to Drakarpo. We have a page full of names and numbers of drivers that someday I am going to develop a mobile phone app out of the data.

BTO Finance Officer/ Zowpoen Dorji with Toilet Base

Last Wednesday when the toilet was completed, I took my wife on a date and visited Drakarpo to demarcate the spot for digging the trench with approval from the stakeholders there. Then we sent the GPRS of the spot to our Paro Ambassador and by Thursday evening his team had begun digging. Saturday morning, before we arrived they were done with 6 feet deep trench before and were waiting for us.

Paro Ambassador Druksel with the Toilet Base

There were twenty of us that day including two children. It was just enough people to complete the job in over four hours. It was a miracle that it didn't rain a bit on the day, otherwise, there was no way the pickup could climb the slippery road. From the road point it was only a few minutes walk down to the toilet site but with heavy pieces of materials to carry it was quite a task. In between, we lost a single piece of a baton and it was a challenge to complete the jigsaw without that piece.

By 5 pm we were looking at the toilet with admiration and taking selfies with it. It was as if the toilet has mushroomed out of the ground organically. And then we had our lunch and beer. By then everyone was like a bear.

Interior with Sawdust box

This toilet was our pet project; we have paid attention to every detail of the design- the natural exterior finish, traditional architectural elements like bho phana and door latches, decked potty and sawdust box inside with playboard finish... it's a prototype we thought of for all the pristine locations where water is a problem. The next place we want to make the home for this design is the Chelela Pass and if it impresses our Prime Minister then we want to have it across the national highway.

All of us minus the children who were having fun elsewhere! 

Out pet at the sunset!

Dirty Toilet is a Mindset – Clean it!

“No, the toilets shouldn’t be here, it would be an ugly sight. No, no, no it can’t be there, the wind would blow the smell into the tent.”

This is a typical instruction from the commanding officer at any event site while deciding where to build toilets for the public during big events. Working for Bhutan Toilet Organization I was engaged in few such committee meetings and it’s disappointing to observe that even the most educated official among us had to be told that the toilets won’t be dirty and it won’t smell if we don’t want to. But almost all the time they win, and these people who won’t have to worry about managing the toilets in the following days make the decision on where and how toilets should be built.

Having grown up with dirty toilets, it has now become a mindset that all toilets will be dirty. The moment we discuss about public toilet we imagine all the filthy toilets we have seen in the past and even remember how it smelled. This very mindset affects all the decision we make now and stops us from moving forward into better future. This has happened to all our existing public toilets in towns across the country.

Working for Bhutan Toilet Organization I had the privilege of managing toilets at three major events in last few months. We began with Paro Tshechu, went to Punakha during Zhabdrung Tshechu and Peling Tshechu in Thimphu. We must have served at least fifty thousands people.
During those events, standing near the toilet door for days we had fun giving people the surprises of their lives. People would walk into our toilets with their nose covered because they knew from all their fond memories that the toilet would be dirty. A moment later we would hear them exclaim from inside, “Wow, it’s so clean”. And few good people would come out without their pride and thank us for the clean toilet.

At Paro Tshechu 

We surprise the people more by sitting under the shade of the toilet and enjoying our lunch while they come in and go our of our toilets. We believe that a toilet should be clean enough to sit by and enjoy a meal. We aren’t obliging anyone to live by our belief but because toilets are kept so clean our volunteers voluntarily enjoy their lunch near the toilet.

We have a long way to go on this journey of providing clean toilets to everyone and longer way to go in making people appreciate clean toilets and develop sound toilet habits in them. Many organizations and individuals are working on this. Everyone seems to understand the need for change but what must change first lies within us. We must change the dirty toilet mindset.
We must acknowledge that a public toilet can be a nice refreshing place. It should be given its due importance. We must stop pushing toilets away from us into the locations that are hardly accessible. At least the highly educated people who make decision on the design and location of public toilets must have clean toilets at home to base their perception of toilets, unless it’s so dirty at home.

This article is originally published in Business Bhutan on 21st May 2016.

The Moment with His Majesty the King

It was the last day of Paro Tshechu and my team was celebrating our four days of success, having delivered our mission of providing clean toilets to thousands of people and literally putting an end to open defecation in the place of worship. 

We were paid a surprise visit by His excellency the Prime Minister and the honourable chairperson of National Council among others. They didn't go to VIP toilet but our public toilets were kept so well that we could impress all our esteem guest and our Prime Minster. 

Thank god His Excellency visit before we faced the water problem. There was about an hour of water shortage and within that short time our toilets were overwhelmed by problems. When I heard the arrival of His Majesty to the Tshechu ground I was anxiously running after people to get the problem fixed. I was sweating and panting. I bothered every official I knew in the area and finally we caught hold of the plumber, Ap Jochu, the only person who knew how to fix it. I nearly kissed him. 

By the time I caught my breath back I was told His Majesty was leaving. I didn't even get a decent chance to look at my king. From the extreme corner we were located at I saw waves of people struggling to get closer view of His Majesty as he left. I could have joined the crowd and pushed myself forward to get a glimpse too but we were running low of Toilet Paper supply. So I had to run to a shop nearby to purchase toilet paper rolls. On the way, from above the wall I saw His Majesty briefly on the last turn on the road down to the valley. 

I reached the other toilet to check if they needed toilet paper. Just then I got a call. It was Dasho Zimpon. He told me that I was summoned by His Majesty. I couldn't believe this was happening. I ran to the location Dasho called me to and down the valley we followed the entourage. I was flying in the air. We got ahead of the royal entourage and Dasho made me wait on the bridge. I was the only person kept on the bridge and the next person I would see was His Majesty. I could see thousands of people on both ends of the bridge waiting to get a glimpse of His Majesty. I was frozen, I didn't move an inch even though no one was watching. 

Then came the moment, I couldn't look up directly but I could make out from the radiance that His Majesty had come. I bowed down to pay my respect and froze back to stillness. His Majesty congratulated me on my teams' work during the Tshechu and told me to walk alongside him across the bridge. 

The Moment that will live with me forever

I had crossed that bridge thousand times in my life but even in my most beautiful dream I haven't seen myself walking with His Majesty the King and talking about the work I am so passionate about. I could share Bhutan Toilet Org's Roadmap and the challenges faced in maintaining public toilets. His Majesty talked about the importance of behavioural change in making our efforts sustainable. And at the other end of the bridge His Majesty spent some more time blessing my dream with his guidance and assurance of royal support henceforth. Everything seemed so possible suddenly and I couldn't wait to tell my team. 

To make this priceless moment live with me forever His Majesty granted a Kupar with me with the permission to share it here. I shall look at this photograph and stay motivated for the rest of my life. And this picture shall remind me each day that I can't take rest on my dream anymore.

My Asset, Motivation and Reminder 

For making this priceless moment possible I would like to thank His Excellency the Prime Minister, my toilet team, my volunteers across the country and all those people who believed in me and supported Bhutan Toilet Org.

Toilet Experiment During Paro Tshechu

Tshechu being the oldest and the most popular festival in Bhutan brings thousands of people together. It happens in every Dzongkhag from three to fives days every year. That gives Bhutan Toilet Org the perfect setting for our Toilet Experiment. Actually it’s more than an experiment, it’s a campaign to provide clean toilets to people and make them appreciate the experience and learn to play their role better in keeping the toilets clean.

We call it experiment because after our November 2015 Nationwide Public Toilet Cleaning campaign we gathered some myths about Bhutanese toilet habits. Therefore we wanted to see and hopefully breaks those myths. 

1. Would our people put in a little effort to look for toilet when they need one?
2. Would people go inside the toilet when they find one?
3. Would people flush if the water were available?
4. Would people use toilet paper if provided free?
5. Would people wash their hands after visiting toilet if water and soap were provided?

Our first successful experiment was conducted in Paro last week during the Paro Tshechu. In preparation our staff and volunteers visited the event ground three days ahead of the Tshechu and in collaboration with the Dzongkhag Administration all the three toilets around the venue were cleaned thoroughly, all damages were repaired and each toilet was furnished with buckets, jugs, waste bins, soaps, room fresheners, and toilet paper (Hung right on the doors). Maps showing the location of the three toilets were placed strategically in the ground and on the routes. Direction signs were put at various points to guide people to our toilets.

Toilet Location Map 

Throughout the five days of Tshechu the three toilets were maned by at least five volunteers and with support from community police all corners, which were used as toilet in the past, were block.

We found out over 10,000 have visited our toilets but we had to redirect hundreds to our toilets from open spaces. Old habits of doing in the open reduced drastically by the third day. By word of mouth most people have heard about the availability of clean toilets.

Only about 150 rolls of toilet paper were used, which was quite less given the number of people. Most people took toilet paper only after verbal reminder. We had to remove only one stone.

People flushed very well in the toilets that were supplied with buckets and jugs but in the toilets that were equipped with flush tanks there were several case of un-flushed pots. Our people seemed to have issues with flush systems.

Use of waste bins inside the toilet had to be verbally advocated because despite the availability of bins we had to remove several sanitary pads from inside the toilet pots and window frames.

Washing hands after using toilet was found to be a rare habit among out people. Doma spit caused much of stains in the toilet pots, washbasins, toilet floor and walls.

We also found out the there should be more chambers for women because unlike men they need to get inside a chamber whether they pee or poop, which led to over crowding outside women’s toilet.

One-hour water shortage on the last days in two of our toilets caused a huge problem to our team. Several toilets were blocked and they started stinking almost immediately. Next time we are going to have a backup plan because without water everything can go wrong within no time. Thank god, the officials helped us find the plumber right away to solve the issue.

We received enormous appreciation from our users. Some happy users took time to tell us how things used to be in the past. They told us that they could hardly find a space to put their feet among the open faeces down the hill. They shared how the change in wind direction would bring the smell onto the tshechu ground. It was natural for everyone to fall sick after the tshechu.

But this year we changed it all. And on the other side Clean Bhutan volunteers from Paro College managed the waste so well that the ground remained clean throughout the event as if no one threw any thing at all. They have collected over 250 bags of waste.

Visit by Prime Minister

Because we maintained the toilets so well the organizers didn’t have to worry about having separate toilet for VIPs. We have the honour of serving the Prime Minister, the Chairperson of National Council and the Cabinet ministers among others and impress them equally. We have received very good feedback from tourists and their tour guides expressed their pleasure lavishly.

Dasho Dzongda and Dzongrab personally monitored out activity and expressed their appreciations and gratitude for doing them proud. Their officials made sure that our team had our meals and refreshment on time. But beyond everything, on the final day a magical moment happened, that’s my next blog.

Our Volunteers and Staff

Our volunteers were from Yeozerling Higher Secondary School and I must thank principal Chencho Tshering for sending a group of amazing young people. In five days they have showed their endurance, patience, and positive attitude to work. They have inspired me so much that I shall keep our organization’s door open for them in the future because they are they kind of people I want to work with.

I would like to thank our following friends for financially supported our activity

1. Tashi Namgay Resort (Karma Jigme)- Nu.5000
2. Chencho Handicraft (Choki Wangmo) – Nu.5000
3. Bhutan Made (Tshering Penjor Shaka)- Nu.3000
4. James Brady- US$. 100
5. Indo General Store: Refreshment worth Nu.1600
6. Sangay Wangmo T/khang: Refreshment worth Nu.500
7. Yeshey Dorji Central Store: Refreshment worth Nu.310

Traditional Bhutanese Toilet Habits

The oldest form of toilets in Bhutan were in strange ways comparable to the most advance toilets today because they didn't need to be flushed, they never got blocked, and at the end human waste wasn't a problem. The typical traditional toilet hung from the first floor with a wide opening, and poop dropped one floor straight down losing all its smell in the wind before it landed. On the ground pigs would wipe clean everything as if there never existed a toilet, except for the sticks and stones that were used for wiping (May be our forefathers reused those). Remember not a single drop of fresh water was wasted. In fact some families fought with pigs to save the poop for producing manure.

Traditional Toilet 

Unfortunately, in 90s our toilets changed suddenly and people were obliged to shut their traditional toilets. People found it disgusting to see their own poop centimetres below in the pot, and smell filling up the air tight chamber, worse they couldn't understand the logic behind wasting huge amount of fresh water to wash their waste.

So old habits die hard; they still feel the pigs would eat after they leave and therefore forget to flush (or intentionally save water), and they smuggle in sticks and stones to wipe their hard butts, which land up choking the new toilets.

A typical public toilet 

The fastest way to solve our toilet usage crisis is to bring back our tradition auto system toilet or wait till the last generation of traditional toilet user die. Well that's what most educated experts think when we discuss toilet but that assumption seemed to have caused most of the modern toilet problems in Bhutan.



The assumption is that our people don't know how to use toilet well, therefore our toilets will be dirty, which made our intelligent engineers come up with a solution even before the problem emerged. The solution was to hide the toilet from public places, so that it doesn't become an eye sore in the unforeseen future. Smart solution, because not many people found them and therefore every open space became toilet for our people, and some people who managed to discover the hidden toilet found it very safe to misuse the facility because there is no one around to watch, while others reach there at the end of their wit and let go wherever they could manage to lower their pants.

It's hard to find the starting point of our problem loop- is it because our toilet are hidden that caused the problem or is it because our people don't know how to use toilets therefore it's hidden? Anyway, it's time to break the loop and dare to test our people- present them with clean toilets with adequate water supply at a reachable distance and see if our people are so evil.

During the 18 days Public Toilet Facelifting event by Bhutan Toilet Organization across the country we found out that toilets that are within populated areas are still in use and in better condition, whereas the ones that are tactfully hidden from public eyes are not only blocked and dirty but also destroyed (See the pictures).

Details report from all Dzongkhags will be shared soon.

Public Toilet Lovers in Bhutan

This November 19, on the World Toilet Day, Bhutan Toilet Organization will be celebrating its first anniversary. So far in our first year of existence we have enjoyed huge support from concerned citizens and we have been able to make people talk about toilets, if nothing. We have done an online campaign Let's Make Toilet a Better Place and on the ground we have transformed the public toilet in Paro into one exemplary toilet in the country, where different groups of people came together to address the issue.

On our journey we also met some people who were experts on the issue and who also knew that it's impossible to change toilets in Bhutan, but we are very naive and would like to believe that we can change. We want to form the largest network of responsible citizens to assist government and local authorities build and maintain toilets.

So are we have about 160 members from across the country and abroad, forming a network of toilet lovers. And our first big assignment is to make every public toilet in the country clean and open to public by 19th November. So far in our assessment we found out that the public toilets across the country share similar fate; they are broken, blocked, and neglected. Therefore, our members are already briefed and they are working on their unique plan to address the issues. On 19th November we will share stories of how our members have transformed public toilets in their regions.

We are not just looking at one time cleaning campaign, our members will work with communities and local authorities to find a sustainable solution to maintaining the toilets after our event. We will continue to monitor the toilets hereafter and provide feedback to the authorities.

This year World Toilet Organization asked us to join their global event called The Urgent Run and we have registered this event with them, because transforming our public toilets is an urgency in Bhutan. We also received approval from the Health Ministry and appreciation from the Health Minister himself. But without any financial support so far our members will have to improvise and fund the event through their own local initiatives.



Following are few pictures of Public Toilets in our Country:

Bumthang

Trongsa

Mongar

If you wish to Join us as a member, Register below:

Portable Toilet

Last weekend I have finally met Lavish Madiya with whom I had shared my aspirations of bringing home prefab toilets. In fact we met online because of my very interest in toilets. He has just ventured out to produce exactly the thing I wanted, just some 30 km away from our Phuntsholing gate.

He has come to market his products in Thimphu, which includes among other things park benches, tiles, window frames, door frames etc (See his company site) but I went to meet him specifically to understand about the prefab toilet.

My Little one with the Little Toilet

His wife Neha, who's also a writer and social worker, used the cute little prototype to explain to me the composition, features and management of the prefab toilet. They knew I was their most potential client with no money. But they have seen Bhutan Toilet Organisation on the top of Google rating in Bhutan and knew how passionate I was about it. Neha kindly shared with me the basics of getting the organisation started because she has been part of many such initiatives in India.

Lavish and Neha

The real toilet they are intending to bring in will have:

1. Net weight of 70kg 
2. Everything is detachable
3. Attached tank can be used by 25 people for a week
4. But the tank can easily be connected to a styptic tank
5. It will come with a water tap, wash basin, and urinal 
6. Tallest person in Bhutan can easily stand inside it
7. Can be customised for people with special needs
8. But the scariest part is the price- without the tax it sells at about Nu.30,000 in India

Considering the cost and transportation of cement, bricks, toilet pot, pipes, basin, walls, roof, labour charges and time I am wondering if Nu.30,000 makes sense. But it will be a while before I figure out where the money is, and meanwhile I think tour companies and event managers could consider. If I succeed you will see these toilets at your service during events like Tshechu, trade fair, book fair, clock tower events, and may be at strategic location in populated communities.

By the way, I am told that during one of big events in past years we brought in quite a number of prefab toilets from China, can anyone please enlighten me on where and how they are kept? Lets use them, if they are still there.

If you are interested in Bhutan Toilet Organisation, please register yourselves as member (Click Here)
Like our Page on Facebook