Zimbabwe: DIGNITY. PERIOD!

On Friday 21st October Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) launched its DIGNITY.PERIOD! Appeal at parliament with Kate Hoey MP and Thabitha Khumalo, women’s secretary for the Zimbabwe congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). The crisis in Zimbabwe worsens every day, and it is, as ever, women who bear the brunt of it. ACTSA, working in partnership with Thabitha and the ZCTU, are raising money to help Zimbabwean women reclaim their dignity. Currently sanitary products in Zimbabwe are unavailable to the ordinary Zimbabwean woman. The costs of these products have rocketed and now stand at £3 for a pack of 10 Tampons, on average consumption is approximately 3 boxes per month. That is £9 per month on sanitary products. The average woman’s wage is £12 per month. This makes these products beyond a normal woman’s reach. Women are now inserting pieces of newspaper, tissue paper and rags as a substitute for tampons. As you can imagine this has led to a serious rise in the number of vaginal infections and also a rise in domestic violence, as husbands and partners believe these vaginal infections to be sexually transmitted infections. Our aim is to raise the money in the UK for the ZCTU to be able to purchase sanitary products in South Africa and then take the products by land to Zimbabwe. WE NEED YOUR HELP to ensure that the women of Zimbabwe no longer have to resort to dangerous methods to protect themselves during their periods. It is their right to have access to these basic commodities and we intend to make sure that they do. If you would like to donate either as an individual, company or organisation or if you would like to organise a fundraiser for this campaign, please follow the link.

http:// www.actsa.org