Primary tabs
Transcription
The camp’s lavatories and the washing and showering facilities are in a horrible state. Of the former there are 2 sets. Each consists of 15 lidless tin buckets placed on bare soil. In front of the buckets, resting on wooden forks, is a simple wooden rail on which one can, or rather: has to, sit in order to do one’s business. The whole thing is sheltered from the eyes of passers-by by branches stuck upright into the soil, which of course dry out very fast and lose their leaves, but is otherwise exposed to the weather and not a pleasant place to be when it rains, as it is roofless. Having 15 men sitting thus next to each other is quite a sight. And since there were about 800 men in the camp when we arrived, the demand is huge and constant. The buckets are emptied twice a day and then [tarred ?], a job for which we Singapore people were to be conscripted as well. After lengthy negotiations with the Commander, we managed to buy ourselves out of the job for a fortnightly fee of £2.16.- which we have to