- 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.
-
- Copyright cathy buckle, 14th February 2004.
-
- http://africantears.netfirms.com I can be contacted at
cbuckle@mango.zw, Jenni Williams at either : jennipr@mweb.co.zw or wozazimbabwe@yahoo.com
My books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond
Tears" are now available outside Africa from: orders@africabookcentre.com
; www.africabookcentre.com ; www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New Zealand:
johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: www.kalahari.net www.exclusivebooks.com
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