In pictures: New loos for old

World Toilet Day highlights the plight of five million children who die every year from sanitation-related diseases. This year 10 volunteers from the UK visited a school in Peru to build a new toilet block.

This was the original toilet at a nursery school in the shanty town of Pachacutec. It had no flush and the wooden cover was used to contain the stench.

Young volunteers from Platform2, run by the charity Christian Aid and funded by DFID, dug a pit, cemented the base and used bricks to build a silo to store the waste for up to two years.

For 10 weeks the volunteers - from Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle - worked on the project, and here put the finishing touches on the outhouse, to provide privacy and shelter.

Children played around the bricks as building work took place. As well as new facilities, they will be taught about the importance of hand-washing in keeping themselves healthy.

The finished block has three toilets, three wash basins and a urinal - a vast improvement on the previous toilet, which volunteer Aniqah Adamjee, 22, of Surrey, described as 'horrific".

For many children at this nursery, the new block provides their first access to separate cubicles and clean facilities. All photos by Farzaan Patel and Platform2.

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