Toilet Paper: Right or Privilege?

As is often the case, I wait until the last moment to go to the bathroom.  I race in, sit down, pee and reach for the toilet paper which is not there.  “Damn!” In my hurry I once again forget that in Nicaragua we cannot assume that toilet=toilet paper.  If I am lucky, I have my backpack with me where I keep a supply of toilet paper for emergencies like this.  If not, I am out of luck and have to resort to a little shake and hope for the best. 

In the States, we expect toilet paper always.  If it is running low or out, we can tell the management and they are appreciative and take care of things right away.  Not so in the rest of the world.  It is easy for us to assume we have a right to toilet paper but I think it is important to remember that it is in fact another one of our many privileges. 

This is how it works here: as I mentioned before, there are many toilets without toilet paper.  Another popular arrangement is one toilet paper dispenser outside the stalls. That is a tricky arrangement because if you forget, there you are again on the throne without the goods. Sometimes I have observed women taking this common toilet paper in vast amounts and I think, “They need that much for one trip to the toilet?” and then I remember that they might be taking some home. Poverty shows its face in many unexpected ways. 

In the women's room at our local mall: "Take the paper before using the toilet"

Public toilet paper on the wall outside the stalls.

At bus terminals there are public bathroom where you pay 5 Córdovas (about 20¢) for an ample supply of toilet paper to take into the stall.  And then there are the places that always have toilet paper like the coffee shop and the convenience store by the bus station and we frequent them regularly. 

For men, it is completely different story because they pee everywhere and anywhere.  There are signs asking people not to urinate in certain areas but the smell of urine wafts up from the sidewalk or wall regardless of the posted requests.  There is a piece of wall left over from a building down the street from us where men often pee and John has told me it is known as the peeing wall. 

On the wall outside a local private school: "School area: prohibited to urinate here"

This is my favorite sign outside the church near our house:
"Selling prohibited in this area; Please do not urinate;
God bless you"

These are the thoughts I have wanted to share about toilet paper and privilege.  The process has made me aware of so many things we take for granted in the developed world that we could feel are our right but they aren’t.  We just happen to have them.