For Mom :)

I was on vacation a few months ago, staying with a friend in her beachside apartment (she´s also a volunteer, not all sites are made equal  ). I mentioned to my mom in a skype call that I was staying in a super nice beach apartment and she jokingly said “Does it have a flushing toilet!?”( I´ve been here long enough that she know what a luxury flushing toilets here are. ) I then proceeded to explain to her all the different levels of toilets here in Moz, and she thought it was hysterical, so I am going to explain it to you all now—
The worst is just grass matting up and you pee right on the ground. You have a little privacy, but depending on the strength of your pee you can end up splashing yourself if you’re not careful.
Another step up would be a latrine with a dug out hole. You still squat over the ground, but there is a hole that you’re aiming for (like a long drop toilet while camping). Most likely there is no cover, leaving an inviting place for all sorts of creepy crawly bugs and creatures. NOT fun to do at night, especially with a cockroach phobia.
The next would be still an outdoor latrine style, but there is a toilet built over the hole instead of just the open hole. Although most of the time the toilet is too gross to sit on, it seems cleaner than the open hole style latrine. Downside is squatting over the toilet bowl is way more taxing to the muscles than squatting over a hole flush with the ground (It is best to squat over the ground or sit on a seat. That conclusion is undebatable). Plus you have to pour water in to flush it. It takes a special talent to get all the contents down with the least amount of water used.
Yet another step up is the same idea except it’s inside the house. A pour down toilet that doesn’t have a tank on top, or the tank is not functional. Some may argue that this is a step down because it tends to smell a bit, so maybe it’s on the same level as the previous outdoor pour down toilet. Either way, it’s debatable. (This just so happens to be the situation that the beach view apartment I was staying in had. So not horrible, but still not the premium level).
The second best situation is what I have in my house. A toilet with a functioning tank on top where you can pour in water (because there’s no water running to it) and still get the flushing action of the toilet.
Finally, the best of the best is a toilet with a tank on top connected to running water that automatically fills so you can flush it whenever you want. Which is what 98% of Americans are used to (I just made up that statistic, please don’t take it too seriously).

PS—Soon after making up this list I experienced another kind of toilet in Tanzania, which is a porcelain flushing floor toilet, common in the Arabic world is my guess. I have no idea where to fit that into the list. Maybe right after the outdoor toilet covered latrine.