Thanks for taking the plunge!

May 04, 2018

Our event partner, NJI Media, filled the technicolor toilet-shaped void in our hearts that we didn’t know we had.

Silliness and substance: these are our twin priorities at DefeatDD. Breaking the poo taboo requires some creative resourcefulness, often in the form of playful humor. And before you know it, you’re flush with resources that you can use to convince friends and colleagues to join the movement.

We hope these are the values and knowledge you took home as souvenirs from our first-ever event of this kind, “Take the Plunge: A Pop-up Experience to Help Children Thrive.” We want to thank everyone who participated and shared their #TakeThePlunge takeaways on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!

While we wait on the edge of our splashy new toilet seat for our full set of professional event photos, here are a few of our off-the-cuff highlights!

Toilet paper rolls, soap suds, and words and images to inspire were beautifully rendered on our #TakeThePlunge backdrop:

Man and woman in front of purple and white striped wall holding poo emoji and "Diarrhea's dangerous" conversation bubble

Woman in front blue wall with white circles

Two men and a woman covered in a wall projection of words like health, innovative, solutions

Person in poo emoji mask in front of wall projection of words holding a sign that says "Diarrhea is dangerous"

Woman speaking on a stage to the right while a crowd looks on — “If we know what works to defeat diarrheal disease, why are we still here today? One the reasons is that diarrhea is not super sexy, so we’re here to draw attention to this issue.” — M.A. Keifer, Legislative Assistant in Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s office, has a personal stake in the effort to defeat diarrheal disease after her bout of E. coli in Ghana. At the time, she was living in a house with eleven other women sharing two bathrooms: inconvenient, for sure, but thankfully not life-threatening since she had access to treatment.

Man speaking on stage — “Escaping from death is not enough. It’s our responsibility as well to give our children the healthy lives they deserve.” — Serge Raharison, Senior Advisor in Child Health for USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP). To Serge, he and his mother surviving his birth after a 72-hour labor in a small village in Madagascar can only be called a miracle, but he needed more than a miracle to survive childhood. His grandfather knew he needed access to basic prevention and treatment tools, like vaccines, and took him by back for miles to ensure Serge got his vaccinations. These early memories inspired his career in public health.

So now that you’ve taken the plunge, what can you do next? You can share our video to generate broader awareness about the global burden of diarrheal disease and encourage greater attention and investment. We also have many other visual resources for you to absorb and share.

Ready to learn more? Check out Stop the Cycle, our state of the field report on diarrheal disease and a great one-stop resource on the global challenge and solutions and what donors, governments, and advocates can do next. And as always, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to know what’s new in poo.

Thanks for joining the movement!