Writen
by
Sally Spencer
This maternity wear designer came to my notice because of their program calling for people to donate knicker’s and bra’s for women and girl’s in Zimbabwe.
A great cause for sure but and that is a huge BUT. I as well as a lot of other Zimbabwean and African women have a problem with it and I will show you why……here is their write up about what they are doing…..
Doing What We Can to Make a Difference
Sometimes we can take a lot for granted, from the roofs over our heads right down to the fact we own underwear. When we heard that something as simple as undergarments had the possibility of giving young women in Zimbabwe a better chance to live a life free of sexual abuse, we knew that we wanted to help.
HOTmilk is now actively assisting former Zimbabwean Morag Roy, who returned to her home in Australia from a recent trip determined to help the local communities in Zimbabwe in a very unusual way.
Morag discovered that sexual abuse of young girls there was rampant, so she asked a local priest what the girls needed most to prevent it. “He told me that underwear gives a woman women prestige, shows they have money and means men are less likely to assault them. I was amazed but when I flew back six months later with suitcases stuffed with bras I saw first hand what a difference it made.”
During that trip Morag also found that most of the young girls and mothers there only had one ragged pair of knickers each, so they often wore none. “They also desperately need knickers, but I guess a Catholic priest wouldn’t have thought about mentioning that!”
Morag has already done such a great job in gathering thousands of bras for her cause and HOTmilk is delighted to have already donated 6,500 brand new pairs of HOTmilk underwear to her project.
Our regular freight company Express Logistics, were also happy to come to the party by sponsoring the transport of the knickers from New Zealand to Zimbabwe. Thanks Express Logistics! It is great that there are more companies out there who care about others and are willing to do what they can to make a small difference.
And You can help too! The demand is phenomenal and everybody is getting on board. So don’t throw out that lingerie set that you no longer require. Take it to your local participating HOTmilk stockist and they will make sure it gets on the next Knickers For Africa shipment to the young women of Zimbabwe.
Are they sending used knickers to Zimbabwe.….?????
If that is the case then I object completely to that……I in fact find it really degrading and insulting to give women and girls who have nothing are at a huge risk of being raped and abused so their confidence and self esteem are very low already and on top of that they are only worth a pair of used knickers from Western women.
Imagine yourself in their situation and in danger of being raped and abused by your men and then some one comes along and see’s that a pair of knickers and a bra would make a difference so they give you their used knickers and bra……if you weren’t feeling bad about yourself before after that little gesture you certainly would…..
How many of you would go to a charity shop and buy used knickers and bra’s…..?????
Just the thought of putting used underwear on to the most treasured and private parts of my body give me the creeps and make me feel cheap and abused……
The questions etc that are being raised by other Zimbabwean and African women are not very nice…..they are asking whether West thinks that just because these women are from Africa they aren’t worth very much to the Western women if they can agree to donate used underwear to them……
African women are proud,dignified and the hardest working women I know even in the poorest parts of Africa and deserve to be treated with dignity by the West……
They aren’t some sort of pity objects that have to be content with anything that the West ”gives” them just because they are poor and have nothing……
These are human beings,flesh and blood who have feelings,dreams,hopes and aspirations just like Western women……
There are ways and means that don’t cost an arm and a leg to get these women and girls new underwear sowhy would any one want to donate their used underwear to another human being is something that I do not understand…….
Africa is not a dumping ground for the West’s used and out of date rubbish and it is about time that they woke up to that fact…..
WE HAVE DIGNITY,PRIDE AND SELF RESPECT …please don’t treat those of us that need a helping hand as anything less than fellow human beings and give us the honour and respect you would to yourselves….
Speak to your factory’s etc and get them to help you get seconds etc…sometimes they even just donate them……get new knickers and bra’s from China they are cheap enough…..just please don’t dump your used underwear on Zimbabwean women and girls it is very insulting and degrading…….no matter how throughly they are cleaned…it is just not right…
This story makes my blood boil. Seriously. I am done.
This is madness and thanks Salad for a very well presented and articulate write up, you are right on the money. If it were me this article would be really really coarse!!
Shame of this fake charity, bloody keep your stinky knickers!!
Whilst I think that everyone is entitles to opinion and I am not here to tell you you are wrong, I would like to point out the the website clearly sates that all knickers shouldbe NEW. Going on from that, nothing is ever forced onto the people we are donating to. We only send items to those that request packages – if they are requesting them, who are we to turn them down? In the last month alone I have received emails asking for over 4,000 pairs of (new!) knickers.
Please also note that the website you have linked (Knickers 4 Africa in the UK) has NOTHING to do with HOTmilk and Morag Roy – they are completely seperate and just happen to share a similar name (Knickers For Africa).
My problem with the story of the knickers business is the fact that any priest or any man would make such a weak comment such as “He told me that underwear gives a woman women prestige, shows they have money and means men are less likely to assault them. I was amazed but when I flew back six months later with suitcases stuffed with bras I saw first hand what a difference it made.” What bullshit! And this Morag, she ran with it did she? How many rapes has this prevented? Women are raped by men because they have power over them. I KNOW THIS FROM FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE.
What makes me sick is that this woman perpetuated that nonsense!
Second, you do say, “So don’t throw out that lingerie set that you no longer require. Take it to your local participating HOTmilk stockist and they will make sure it gets on the next Knickers For Africa shipment to the young women of Zimbabwe.” Whose words are these?
I understand all the issues however I am confused.
Are people using the internet unable to afford new knickers?
Happy Thanksgiving, and I’m thankful you’re keeping this going