IT was, as Australians might say, a deluxe dunny.

Angola is not a land where toilets are 10 a penny. In some far-flung parts they're not even one a penny, so by those standards, this was a Carlton among khazis.

Not only did the action station itself resemble the work of a master thatcher, but similarly attractive weaved panels enclosed an area where hands and so on could be washed afterwards.

Which just shows that point the citizens of this African country in the right direction and they go for it with gusto.

As Carrie Parsonson, from the appropriately named Wyre Piddle, found out recently when she visited with Oxfam.

The aid agency is in Angola to improve the water supply and general hygiene.

An important part of the latter is to show the locals how to build, maintain and use their own lavatories, mostly simple affairs involving a hole in the ground topped by a concrete pad with foot imprints. Rather along basic French lines.

"In many of the rural villages there are no toilet facilities," Carrie explained, "so Oxfam shows the people how to build them.

"They can become very enthusiastic about it.

"In one scheme, Oxfam engineers visited a village and built two toilets. When they returned three months later, there were another 112!

"In another village they had really gone to town and constructed an amazing thatched toilet with its own washing area enclosed too. It looked very plush."

Carrie, who is a planning consultant and a voluntary worker in Oxfam's Pershore shop, applied to go abroad with the charity a few years.

"I just felt I wanted to see the work Oxfam was doing," she explained. "When they asked me if I had a preference, I said 'Anywhere, any time'. It took a while to go through the rigorous selection and training process and I had no idea I would be going to Angola.

"When they told me, I think the idea fascinated me, but scared me a bit too. After all that was where Princess Diana had been to promote the landmine tragedies, so I guessed it could be dangerous."

Angola's problems are rooted in the fact that war raged in the country virtually non-stop for more than 40 years.

From 1961 until 1975 it was a war of independence against the Portuguese, which was immediately followed by civil war that only ended in 2002.

All of which has left this potentially wealthy country, rich in oil and diamonds, on its knees.

"I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I stepped off the plane at Luanda airport last September and in a sense, I was surprised," Carrie added. "There were high rise buildings everywhere and no immediate signs of the poverty I had been expecting.

"But when you looked closer, you could see shanty towns between the skyscrapers and it wasn't long before the real picture emerged.

"When I first arrived at the apartment I was staying in I was surprised to find it had running water and flushing lavatories. But three hours later the water supply stopped and didn't come back on for three days."

The provision of water for the population is one of the cornerstones of Oxfam's work. It's accomplished either by installing a hand pump over a bore-hole or sinking a well.

"The pumps are very good, simple to use and easy to install," Carrie explained, "but in the remote villages, wells are better bets because there is nothing mechanical to break down."

Travelling around Angola, there were always echoes of the country's troubled past.

"Everywhere we went we saw tanks at the sides of the roads. They'd been blown up by landmines. It was a constant reminder of the danger we were in.

"One day we were driving our Land Rover when we were flagged down by a man. It turned out he'd just found 40 anti-personnel and 20 anti-tank mines along the sides of the road we were travelling on.

"We diverted and continued our journey only to be stopped again, this time by an aid worker. He had discovered an anti-tank mine in the middle of the road and we would have driven straight over it. We were very lucky."

In many ways, life in Angola has a lot to do with luck.When Oxfam opened a food depot, the queue stretched to around 3,000 people.

Oxfam's target in the country is to make the people self-sufficient and water and washing hands are just part of it.

"There's so much to do," added Carrie, who now gives talks about her experiences in Angola to local groups and organisations. If you'd like her to come to yours, her number is 01386 550192.

And I am assured you don't need a platinum-plated privy.