Dignify a Sister

[Australis]

Last month I read an article in which the author Cathy Buckle was speaking about women & life in Zimbabwe. Cathy is a single mum who used to be a farmer until she was evicted from her land by the government in 2000. She writes for the Daily News and has written two books on the plight of her beleaguered country (African tears & Beyond tears). In the article she talked about a recent experience in a local supermarket. Here is an extract from her website about the incident.

Saturday 14th February 2004

Dear Family and Friends,
If you are a man please do not be embarrassed to read this letter because the people I am describing could be your mother, wife, sister or daughter. This week I visited a newly opened supermarket in Marondera. I had neither a trolley nor a basket in my hands, just a scrap of paper and a pen to write down prices. In the aisle where female sanitary products are displayed a group of 6 men stood in a bunch. As I and other women looked at the prices of sanitary towels, the men passed crude comments, made jokes and laughed loudly. The tears welled up in my eyes at the disgusting behaviour of bored bullies but the real pain in my heart was for the women. Women who grit their teeth, ignore the taunts and count their dollars to see if they can afford to keep themselves clean this month. There were neither tampons nor cotton wool to buy and a pack of 10 sanitary towels was seventeen thousand dollars. This is the equivalent of almost 7 loaves of bread, so for a woman with hungry children at home, the decision about what to buy is non existent. The same applies to toothpaste, vaseline, deodorant, talcum powder, shampoo and even soap. Standing next to me in the supermarket was a very pretty young woman who picked up the small packet of sanitary towels, looked at the price, sighed, shook her head and then put them back and left.

The lives of Zimbabwe's women are not lives anymore, but a series of agonising decisions. Do we pay a bill or feed our children? Do we buy a bra or get soap, shampoo and toothpaste for the family? Do we stem the flow of nature's functions or buy bread for breakfast? This week women attempted to make our plight known to the men who run our country. Led by Janna Ncube, 70 women from the Women's Coalition marched through Harare to expose the horrific increase in rape. In the last month in Harare alone 137 girls and women were raped and when tested it was found that 90% of them were now HIV positive. It is not known how many of these girls are pregnant as a result of being raped .
WOZA women were also due to gather today to attempt to walk together peacefully in Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls. WOZA women were going to wear white, carry and give out flowers and call for love and peace in Zimbabwe. Last year when WOZA participants marched on Valentine's Day scores were arrested and many were imprisoned and abused by police. This year, less than 24 hours before the event, police in Harare and Victoria Falls cancelled the permission previously given for the walk. Police in Bulawayo denied permission for the peaceful walk of love to go ahead and when WOZA challenged the ruling, the High Court deferred making judgement saying it was "not urgent". Jenni Williams and WOZA will not break Zimbabwe's oppressive laws but will stay at home on Valentine's Day 2004.

I had hoped to be able to tell women that they could drop off sanitary products for less fortunate women at a Valentine's Day function in Harare which did not need police permission, but sadly I cannot. This event is being held, believe it or not, to raise money to send women to the UK Chelsea Flower Show. When I asked the organisers if they would help highlight the desperate plight of other women by asking their guests to donate cotton wool and sanitary towels, they said they were exceedingly busy putting the final touches to their event which includes: "a bring and share stir fry, G&T's and pimms served by toyboys with roses and a kiss." They did say that if I printed flyers and delivered them to Harare, they would be prepared to hand them out at the gate. Unfortunately, like Jenni Williams and thousands of other women who have lost everything as we speak out for truth and democracy, the cost of printing flyers or even half a tank of petrol to get to Harare is a pipe dream for me. The massive contrast between women being refused police permission to hand out flowers for love and peace, and toyboys, kisses and pimms in exchange for air fares to a flower show is the utterly tragic face of Zimbabwe today. I know how important it is for all of us in Zimbabwe to do something fun and "normal" in order to stay sane but I also know that 137 women were raped in Harare last month and hundreds of thousands are using rags, newspaper and leaves to control their menstrual flow.

If you would like to support WOZA or help women and girls in Zimbabwe, please contact me or Jenni Williams or just post whatever you can spare from your bathroom cupboard. Nothing will be wasted. It might sound silly but a bag of cotton wool or packet of sanitary towels will be a treasured gift to a woman who has to choose between bread and hygiene.

I continue to wear my yellow ribbon in support of victims of Zimbabwe's political mayhem and this week it is for three young women. Viola Ngwenya (18) was raped by men who call themselves war veterans in Chimanimani a few days ago and her two friends Spiwe (15) and Melody were sexually molested that same night. Their pain and horror is shared by most of Zimbabwe's 6 million women and this letter is for Viola.
Until next week, happy Valentine's Day,
with love, cathy.

Sad isn't it... this letter brought me to tears... the fact that women anywhere in the world would be treated with so little dignity is something i find absolutely appalling. I found myself crying tears of frustration that in this day and age any woman would have to endure every monthly cycle without sanitary products.

Which brings me to the reason for this post...

The Dignify a Sister program is a non-political movement that links sanitary donations to the women who need them. I thought about this and what difference the cost of buying an extra pack of sanitary products would make to me every month... the answer is not alot. Yet for the women of Zimbabwe the cost is tremendous, a pack of 10 sanitary towels costs the equivalent of approximately AU$27.50.

If you would like to help our sisters in Zimbabwe email the volunteers at:

[email protected]

They will let you know when your donation is needed and give you the address to send you sanitary gift to.

If you would like to check out cathy's website you can find it here:

http://www.africantears.netfirms.com

I will now always try to remember to be thankful for the simple freedoms we enjoy & to spare a thought for those who don't have them.


Love & live life as if every moment could be your last.

[Blazey]

Here i sit with tears as well..i had no idea..it is truly horrific to know this is happening..thanks Isis for posting that..i hope you and your family are doing well..im gonna send some mail now.. [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

[*Olivia*]

this brought me to tears too, and i will be contacting them to see what i can do to help

thank you for posting this