A novel idea has brought much-needed relief for Burundi refugees returning to their home province of Rutana after years of exile in Tanzania.
Over the past eighteen months, 870 pit latrines -- that is, basic but functional and sanitary outdoor toilets -- have been erected in this remote part of Africa. It's all thanks to the 
charity CORD, which came up with the idea of "twinning" toilets in the affluent west with those being built in Burundi.
Here's how it works: for around $100 donation to the charity, you can have your own personal porcelain throne twinned with a specific outhouse deep in the bush. Its exact location can be even tracked down with Google Maps, so you can keep up with their progress and use.
One of the first toilet twinners, the Bishop of Coventry, invited the press around to his house to inspect his crapper and a photo of its twin in Rutana. "It's a bog standard idea with a great message," he said, "Forty percent of the world's population don't have access to a toilet and it's hard to imagine what that's like."
It sounds a good idea. There must be many people now who have a blown-up photo of a remote African dunny proudly hung on the wall above their commodes.
