Beverly Bizeki
With statistics from the World Bank showing that about 500 million women and girls in the world are going through period poverty, women and girls living with disabilities are mostly affected by this mishap and are oftentimes pushed to the sharp edge of the stick.
This is one of the many challenges disabled Tracy Madhigi (24) from Chivi who cannot walk or move without the support of another person.
Tracy’s mother Lilian Joni (63) says sometimes when her daughter is on her menses she has no option but to use napkins which she wash herself.
“When I have no money for pampers or sanitary pads I use napkins which I change constantly and wash as it is sometimes hard to get the money for pads,” Joni.
Joni also laments the lack of a proper bathroom from which she can bath her daughter from as she has resorted to using a blanket outside her house despite harsh weather conditions and also the practice is dehumanizing for a young lady.
“My wish is to have a proper bathroom which is big enough to place a dish so that I can bathe her from there unlike outside where I spread a blanket despite that sometimes there are unfavorable weather conditions outside,” said Joni.
Madhigi is one of the children who are benefitting from the stimulation centre in Chivi which is implemented with support from Ministry of public Service Labour, Social Welfare in collaboration with UNICEF with funding from the Government of Sweden, Government of Norway (Norad) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation working with implementing partner Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA)
Chipo Pikirayi one of the youth leaders at Chivi Stimulation Centre says she is forever indebted to the partners who have brought about the program that has seen girls living with disabilities making non reusable pads as one of the projects at the centre.
“We have since started a project of making our own sanitary wear so that we cater for all the children living with disabilities as we sometimes do not get money to buy from pads. At the moment we only make pads for us to share among us but with time we will be able to sell extras we make,” says Pikirayi.
Tracy Mabhiza a field officer said the project is aimed at eradicating period poverty by providing sanitary wear for children with disabilities.
“Our target is to provide reusable pads to 200 girls with disabilities who are beneficiaries of the Stimulation Centre and our target is to provide at least five pads for every girl,” said Mabhiza.
Media reports in Zimbabwe country have showed that cash strapped women and girls especially in rural areas have resorted to using tree leaves, newspapers, and pieces of cloth and in worst case scenarios cow dung.
