123: Caring for girls one toilet at a time by Mark Balla

Today, we continue the conversation with a man who is full of SHIT! Don’t get mad at me Mom for swearing, Mark Balla is actually the “Toilet Warrior” and has been advocating and changing the story about sanitation worldwide.

In 2013, he founded the not-for-profit “We can’t wait”. He then joined forces with Rotary and began using his business connections to Mumbai to change the reality for girls in that region and then the country as a whole.

Did you know that of the 1.4M schools in India, 400,000 of them do NOT have toilets? And the schools that do have toilets, do not have separate ones for girls.

So, why does this matter so much?

25% of girls in India drop out and skip school when they reach puberty. When their menstruation begins, its just too much to go to school and be humiliated.

Many of these girls homes also do NOT have toilets so after holding their bodily functions in all day, their desperate attempts to go to the bathroom results in 50% of sexual assaults occurring while these innocent girls are seeking a quiet place to do so.

If you want to dive deeper into this reality that’s happening right now before our eyes, read Mark’s book the Toilet Warrior or google his TedX talk to be enthralled.

As sanitation goals worldwide continued to not be met; this linguist and global supply-chain expert from Melbourne took it on. Thanks to Mark, he is proving the truth of his own TedX quote, that “Children are the most spectacular agents for LASTING change”!

The Goods on Mark:

Accomplished public speaker on humanitarian issues both in Australia and internationally, ready to change your perception of the world we live in
* Founder of a charity with an international focus on improving life opportunity for girls and women in developing countries
* A deep passion for opportunities in corporate social responsibility
* Board level experience in both for profit and not for profit environments in both Australia, India and Globally
* Committed advocate for global causes that matter
* Fluent in German, Spanish and Portuguese, conversant in French
* Inter-cultural business specialist
* Extensive experience outsourcing to China, India and SE Asia
* 15 years experienced in manufacturing, and supply chain management in China.
* Five years experience with manufacturing supply chains in India.
* Five years experienced with IT supply chain and

The Podcast's 7th Season
Welcome to In the Game, a podcast where we aim to touch, move and inspire you to what's possible in life. My name is Sarah Maxwell and I am a self-proclaimed relationship engineer. Ever since I was a little girl, I was curious about how people work and how they interact with one another. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball. With a degree in biopsychology representing my country of Canada in beach volleyball, retiring from sport into mindset and purpose coaching, I now spend my days running Chatta-box Media, where we aim to story-tell for brands through the medium of podcasting, all while raising an eight-year-old daughter with my partner of 24 years. We are now in season seven of this podcast, featuring a special series on women called who Knew that Was Work aimed at young women who want to broaden their horizon when it comes to career choosing.
Go deeper into the pod and discover incredible stories of changemakers who manifest their dream lives. Gain tangible tools to apply to your own life by scrolling back to that initial season where we were more workbook focused. Have a laugh when we initially were coined the Nat and Sarah show, when my five-time Olympian partner, natalie Cook, and I bantered and had loads of fun interviewing and discovering our common passion individuals who rise to the occasion in life. Okay, now it's time to dive on in to this episode.
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