1. Owen

March 17th, 2006 at 11:52 am

Seems vile and petty but it’s worth bearing in mind that sadly international appeals in the past have been used as an oppportunity to offload some pretty undesirable stuff (and of course the Zimbabwe govt would be delighted to find an example of this)

2. imtiredthiscrap

March 19th, 2006 at 11:44 pm

Stop perpetuating the perception that the African is helpless. We can help ourselves and were doing just that until our ‘charitable big brother’ started poking their noses into our affairs. I read this sanitary towel nonsense on the BBC website and to say the truth it made me furious.

Are Zimbabwean this helpless ? Can’t afford sanitary towels!! I can undertand why the BBC will carry a story like this but why a blog maintained by an African would dignify this crap with a single comment baffles me. One day you opportunists will be held accountable for your actions. You don’t have the right to put down an entire people like this.
I am tired of this crap!!

3. Rosie

March 22nd, 2006 at 1:14 am

What?!

4. owukori

March 22nd, 2006 at 1:56 am

Tired of this crap - what kind of a name is that? Did you make it up for this comment or do you carry it with you everywhere you go? The story if you cared to follow the links came from a Zimbabwean site - I know nothing of the BBC or where they got it. Anyway what the hell do you think people use in the villages - do you think they can afford to buy sanitary towels when they can hardly afford eba? You think women in Darfur are going off to the market to buy sanitary towels. Get your head out of the sand and and face reality or are you full of self-hatred that you cannot face the truth. This isnt anything to do with Africa being helpless its about women not being able to afford sanitary towels. Do you even know how much sanitary towels cost? Women should be given them free never mind any thing else.

Rosie: what!

5. Hope (for 'This is Zimbabwe')

March 22nd, 2006 at 11:49 am

To the person who called themself ‘I’m tired of this crap’:

In response to your question: “Are Zimbabweans this helpless…?”. No we’re are not. Zimbabweans however have to prioritise and for most women feeding their family is more important than spending money on sanitary ware, even if they desperately need it for themselves. We have nearly 1000% inflation and that forces people to make very hard choices. To put it in context, a retired person who, ten years ago, worked in a middle management position (the extreme minority of people in our country!) would normally expect a comfortable old age. Their monthly income from their pension won’t even buy them a coca cola now - that’s the reality of inflation. So sanitary towels have become a luxury for the wealthy - that’s a flat fact. In fact, I was surpised to see the BBC site say that women were using toilet paper - my experience is that most cannot afford to buy that now, even that is too expensive.

In response to your statement “Stop perpetuating the perception that the African is helpless” I can only say - as a Zimbabwean - that the failure of some AFRICANS to recognise the reality in our country is one of the saddest and most profound betrayals we have experienced. We thought that our neighbours and friends would stand alongside us in our time of need, and that hasn’t always been the case. People seem to prefer to leave us to suffer rather than face the truth - and that is disgusting, in my opinion.

If to question, or comment is somehow taboo - lest it ruins Africa’s reputation - then you need to recognise that it is the African people who suffer as a result of that. Like it or not my friend, the truth is that life in Zimbabwe is very very hard at the moment, people are suffering, there is rampant corruption and abuse of human rights. I’m not going to pretend that that isn’t happening just to save ‘African face’ - my loyalty is to my people, my country and my continent! Anyone who cares about our continent needs to have the guts to stand up for it when things go wrong.

6. zzzz

March 22nd, 2006 at 8:46 pm

Just an added dimension to the sanitary ware situation - women held in the prisons have to first show their soiled underwear to the policeMEN on duty, they are then given HALF a sanitary towel per day. They are also denied access to decent laundry facilities and soap is an enormous luxury in our prisons. As an AFRICAN WOMAN I am outraged at the conditions in Zimbabwe and I pray that our women will find the courage to stand up and say SOKWANELE - enough is enough.

7. Black Looks

June 1st, 2006 at 11:33 am

[…] Campaign for Zimbabwean Women’s Dignity Back in March I pointed to a report in Sokwanele on the Zimbabwean government reaching the limits of absurdity by insisting that donated sanitary towels be quality tested before exempting them from import duty. […]