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| WCoZ members during clean-up campaign |
Agnes Madechihwe
Gweru–
The Women Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) Gweru Chapter last week embarked on a
donate a pad campaign aimed at mobilising sanitary wear for girls whom they say
are struggling to access the basic commodity in the face of a biting economy.
WCoZ
and their Young Women Forum (YWF) cluster embarked on a clean-up campaign in
the Gweru Central Business District (CBD) raising awareness on the importance
of helping and empowering the girl child in the communities.
Young
Women Forum (YWF) chairperson, Grace Mazambani said WCoZ was advocating for free sanitary wear for all women paying
special attention to rural girl child.
“We
are grateful as a movement to be hosting such an initiative as we hope to
maintain a clean and safer environment.
“We
are pleased to inform you that we have collected a lot pads since the beginning
of the campaign and we hope to distribute them to vulnerable girls around Midlands
province.
“Right
now if you check in shops sanitary wear is very expensive as it is going for US$1 a pack and for most rural girls it’s hard because they can’t afford to get money to buy. In
other words we want sanitary wear to be subsidized by government so that women
get it for free,” said Mazambani.
She
encouraged men to join the initiative as most donations had been contributed by
men.
“We
also want the drive to influence policymakers to swiftly act on this issue
because it’s a matter of urgency. We want policies which protect the welfare of
the girl child; we want policies which ensure that the sanity of young girls
and women is considered just like that of the boy child.
“We
are also encouraging men to donate towards the initiative because they are also
part of this programme. We have received 288 packs from Gweru Urban Member of
Parliament Brian Dube and we are very grateful,” said Mazambani.
