--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is why the Liberian waiter laughed…" description: "\"“This is why the Liberian waiter laughed at me. He thought that I thought a toilet was my right, when he knew it was a privilege. \"It must be, when 2.6..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb4/rose-george-8313_drinking-water_this-is-why-the-liberian-waiter-laughed_2726429.jpg" --- # This is why the Liberian waiter laughed at me. He thought… ![“This is why the Liberian waiter laughed at me. He thought that I thought a toilet was my right, when he knew it was a privilege. "It must be, when 2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. I don't mean that they have no toilet in their house and must use a public one with queues and fees. Or that…” quote by Rose George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb4/rose-george-8313_drinking-water_this-is-why-the-liberian-waiter-laughed_2726429.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb4/rose-george-8313_drinking-water_this-is-why-the-liberian-waiter-laughed_2726429.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb4/rose-george-8313_drinking-water_this-is-why-the-liberian-waiter-laughed_2726429.jpg) > ““This is why the Liberian waiter laughed at me. He thought that I thought a toilet was my right, when he knew it was a privilege. "It must be, when 2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. I don't mean that they have no toilet in their house and must use a public one with queues and fees. Or that they have an outhouse, or a ricety shack that empties into a filthy drain or pigsty. All that counts as sanitation, though not a safe variety. The people who have those are the fortunate ones. Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket, or box. Nothing. Instead, they defecate by train tracks and in forests. They do it in plastic bags and fling them through the air in narrow slum alleyways. If they are women, they get up at 4 A.M. to be able to do their business under cover of darkness for reasons of modesty, risking rape and snakebites. Four in ten people live in situations where they are surrounded by human excrement because it is in the bushes outside the village or in their city yards, left by children outside the backdoor. It is tramped back in on their feet, carried on fingers onto clothes, food and drinking water. "The disease toll of this is stunning. A gram of feces can contain 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts, and 100 worm eggs...”” [Rose George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-george/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Sanitation is a privilege; billions lack safe facilities, leading to health hazards and gender‑based risks. **In simple terms:** Many lack proper toilets, causing disease and danger. Key Takeaway Advocate for universal sanitation access. Themes health inequality gender environment Mood concerned urgent Type informative advocacy When to use this quote - urban slums - rural villages - refugee camps Key Concepts sanitation public health human rights Questions to Reflect On - What policies can improve sanitation globally? - How can individuals support sanitation initiatives? A Different Perspective Solutions require massive infrastructure investment and political will. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Counts Sanitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/counts-sanitation-2922151/) [Drinking water](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drinking-water/) [Mean Toilet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean-toilet-1519766/) [Plastic bag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plastic-bag/) [Sanitation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sanitation/) [Sanitation Safe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sanitation-safe-2922152/) [Thought Toilet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thought-toilet-2922153/) [Train tracks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/train-tracks/) ## Related quotes > [Sandpaper? 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But a supertanker can also be heard coming across a whole ocean, and because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-george/a-humpback-can-transmit-a-sound-across-a-whole-ocean-but-a/) [Rose George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-george/) > [The days of languorous shore leave are long gone. Overnight stays are unheard of and sailor towns a distant memory. In better ports, seafarers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-george/the-days-of-languorous-shore-leave-are-long-gone-overnight-stays-are/) [Rose George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-george/) > [Rules governing defecation, hygiene, and pollution exist in every culture at every period in history. 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Innovative financing ways.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-r-wheeler/we-are-working-on-a-lot-of-innovative-ways-to-provide-safer-drinking/) [Andrew R. Wheeler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-r-wheeler/) > [“At the farm, in our hut, they cooked plain rice porridge and added soy sauce for taste, which nearly rivaled the thrill of drinking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-h-lau/at-the-farm-in-our-hut-they-cooked-plain-rice-porridge-and-added-soy/) [Jennifer H. Lau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-h-lau/) > [Astronauts living on the International Space Station will soon be getting their drinking water from a new system that recycles their urine into drinkable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-meyers/astronauts-living-on-the-international-space-station-will-soon-be/) [Seth Meyers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-meyers/) > [“Universal Spirit may fitly be likened to the universal water, or water circulating through the whole earth. 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Of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kazantsakis-nikos/christ-is-born-my-wise-solomon-my-wretched-pen-pusher-don-t-go/) [Kazantsakis Nikos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kazantsakis-nikos/) > [The way we guarantee safe drinking water is broken and needs to be fixed,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-browner/the-way-we-guarantee-safe-drinking-water-is-broken-and-needs-to-be/) [Carol Browner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-browner/) > [The world needs water. For every bottle of wine you drink you contribute to conserving the drinking water reserves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-emile-victor/the-world-needs-water-for-every-bottle-of-wine-you-drink-you/) [Paul-Emile Victor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-emile-victor/) > [I used to be a party animal back in the day, but now I'm way more healthy, eating and drinking a lot - drinking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-flip/i-used-to-be-a-party-animal-back-in-the-day-but-now-i-m-way-more/) [G Flip](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-flip/) > [A major cause of the Roman Empire's decline, after six centuries of world dominance was its replacement of stone aqueducts by lead pipes for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harris-l-coulter/a-major-cause-of-the-roman-empire-s-decline-after-six-centuries-of/) [Harris L Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harris-l-coulter/) [Browse all 268 Drinking water quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drinking-water/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“This is why the Liberian waiter laughed at me. He thought that I thought a toilet was my right, when he knew it was a privilege. \"It must be, when 2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. I don't mean that they have no toilet in their house and must use a public one with queues and fees. Or that they have an outhouse, or a ricety shack that empties into a filthy drain or pigsty. All that counts as sanitation, though not a safe variety. The people who have those are the fortunate ones. Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket, or box. Nothing. Instead, they defecate by train tracks and in forests. They do it in plastic bags and fling them through the air in narrow slum alleyways. If they are women, they get up at 4 A.M. to be able to do their business under cover of darkness for reasons of modesty, risking rape and snakebites. Four in ten people live in situations where they are surrounded by human excrement because it is in the bushes outside the village or in their city yards, left by children outside the backdoor. It is tramped back in on their feet, carried on fingers onto clothes, food and drinking water. \"The disease toll of this is stunning. 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