Significant damage was discovered in the boy's toilets just yesterday in the form of broken soap dispensers and chains (yes those olden day metal chains for flushing).  So unflushable toilets which are likely the originals from when the school was built more than 50 years ago!  Remarkably many mums approached me this week astounded that all these years they never knew there were only 3 cubicles for the boys.  

More harrowing is an innocent conversation I had with a PEPS boy about 10 years old on Wednesday the first day of paper petitioning.  He was patiently standing alone just outside the school gate waiting to be collected.  He enquired “What are you doing?”, I replied “I’m trying to ask for signatures to get you new toilets”.  His eyes immediately widened, he straightened up, reached out a hand for the board and ever so formally asked if he could sign too.  I had to explain only adults were allowed.  That’s the moment he dejectedly dropped his outstretched fingers and shifted his gaze.  After a pause he muttered, still very politely, “Well I don’t think that’s fair, kids should be able to sign because adults don’t care... they don’t even use the toilets.  And the girls have more than the boys too!”.  Although I reassured him we would get new toilets I myself was doubtful that day.  I went home exhausted but determined to do everything in my power to fix this.  So that’s when I resurrected a Change.org account I almost didn’t realise I had.  The next two hours were spent rejigging my original petition and 48 hours later here we are at 237 signatures as I type and counting... that seems to be a magic number tonight!  I feel it’s 237 adults who are finally noticing this boy and all the other PEPS children.  That’s why I am asking you to not only sign, but share this petition on to as many people as you know.  I am prompting old friends I haven’t seen since high school, I’m asking anyone with a few minutes spare to read this and care enough to support this cause.  He may not be your child, this might not be your school, but I sure can’t sleep well until I know I’ve done everything I can to stop ignoring this awful oversight.

Many thanks and goodnight.  Hopefully I’ll see this little boy again next week and tell him we have our 500 signatures and that the adults are going to finally build him some nice new toilets.