dignity.period! anyone got links from recent weeks?
Check out this campaign. If you're in the UK, there's a specific Parliament motion to get the Department of International Development to act on this. You can email your MP. Or if not, there are leaflets to distribute, and donations to make if you can.
http://www.actsa.org/Get_involved/zimbabwe_sanitary_campaign.htm
"Population in Zimbabwe is 13,000,000 and 60% are women.
Current average minimum wage for a woman in Zimbabwe is £12.50 per month....
Currently the cost of a box of 10 tampons is £3.00. Consumption is on average three boxes a month. [The average salary for a Zimbabwean woman is £20 a month.http://www.actsa.org/Get_involved/women_of_zimbabwe.htm]
...
"How you can help
Our aim is to raise funds so that we can purchase sanitary products in South Africa and transport them into Zimbabwe with the support of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
We are asking for you to send donation to Action for Southern Africa by either sending cheques payable to ACTSA with sanitary appeal written on the back of the cheque or call ACTSA on 0207 833 3133. Alternatively, please click here to make a secure online donation." [NB See link for information on downloading leaflets and emailing MPs.]
Zimbabwean blog:
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/407
Now her cause has been taken up in Britain by celebrities including the actors Anna Chancellor, Gillian Anderson, Prunella Scales and Jeremy Irons.
Later this month [MAY-I don't know how it's gone so far, trying to find more up to date news] they will launch “Dignity. Period!”, a fundraising campaign to buy sanitary products for Zimbabwe’s women. It will start with a night of entertainment at the 20th Century theatre in Notting Hill, west London, hosted by Stephen Fry.
So desperate is the situation that women are being forced to use rolled-up pieces of newspaper. Zimbabwe already has the world’s lowest life expectancy for women - 34 - and Khumalo believes these unhygienic practices could make it drop to as low as 20 because infections will make them more vulnerable to HIV. “It’s a time bomb,” she said. The shortage is forcing schoolgirls to stay at home when they start menstruating.
http://www.actsa.org/Get_involved/zimbabwe_sanitary_campaign.htm
"Population in Zimbabwe is 13,000,000 and 60% are women.
Current average minimum wage for a woman in Zimbabwe is £12.50 per month....
Currently the cost of a box of 10 tampons is £3.00. Consumption is on average three boxes a month. [The average salary for a Zimbabwean woman is £20 a month.http://www.actsa.org/Get_involved/women_of_zimbabwe.htm]
...
"How you can help
Our aim is to raise funds so that we can purchase sanitary products in South Africa and transport them into Zimbabwe with the support of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
We are asking for you to send donation to Action for Southern Africa by either sending cheques payable to ACTSA with sanitary appeal written on the back of the cheque or call ACTSA on 0207 833 3133. Alternatively, please click here to make a secure online donation." [NB See link for information on downloading leaflets and emailing MPs.]
Zimbabwean blog:
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/407
Now her cause has been taken up in Britain by celebrities including the actors Anna Chancellor, Gillian Anderson, Prunella Scales and Jeremy Irons.
Later this month [MAY-I don't know how it's gone so far, trying to find more up to date news] they will launch “Dignity. Period!”, a fundraising campaign to buy sanitary products for Zimbabwe’s women. It will start with a night of entertainment at the 20th Century theatre in Notting Hill, west London, hosted by Stephen Fry.
So desperate is the situation that women are being forced to use rolled-up pieces of newspaper. Zimbabwe already has the world’s lowest life expectancy for women - 34 - and Khumalo believes these unhygienic practices could make it drop to as low as 20 because infections will make them more vulnerable to HIV. “It’s a time bomb,” she said. The shortage is forcing schoolgirls to stay at home when they start menstruating.