Helvetas is a Swiss non-profit organisation, for years they are providing toilets for people who don’t have any. The group said 2.6 billion people have to defecate outdoors (40% of the planet’s population). The lack of proper sanitation is leading to the pollution of water sources with consequences that have led to the death of more people since the Second World War. Every year 1,8 million people die because of these bad conditions.

In Montreux, a town in Switzerland, you can find a statue of the famous British rock singer Freddie Mercury who died in 1991. The Mercury statue honours the links of the musician with the Montreux Jazz Festival and a studio in the town where Queen recorded music.

Members of Helvetas pulled down his trousers and placed a roll of toilet paper under his arm, this was done to remind people of the cause Helvetas is fighting for.
As part of its campaign, Helvetas also did the same to statues in Geneva of trader Charles Pictet-de-Rochemont and in Zurich of Ganymede, a mythical Greek figure.

Most of you probably know the town of Montreux from the popular song ‘Smoke on the water’ by Deep Purple. Here you can see Rod Evans, the singer of Deep Purple, explain what the song ‘Smoke on the water’ is about.

After the jump you can find more pictures of this campaign.



Trader Charles Pictet-de-Rochemont statue in Geneva.