Beyond Trees: Panties and Sanitary wear………….

Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe Trust does not only aspire to bring positive change to the environment but also the people who safeguard it. Dialogues opened through tree planting initiative in the Marange communities underscored the plight of the girl child.

The girl-child in Marange community succumbs to male subordination and dropping out of school early as the boy child is given priority. Many of them have been forced into early marriages, a situation where young girls tend for families. Most touching was the inhuman experiences that the girl child has to endure during her monthly cycle. Unprecedented levels of poverty have denied a young girl in Marange access to basic sanitation necessities like pads. The root cause of this problem is poverty. When being faced with a choice between buying food or sanitary pads in a family set up, family members including the girls, usually chose food. Instead the majority have to resort to the use of alternative sanitary towels such as rags, newspapers and cow dung during their menstrual cycles which could also affect the their health as poor hygiene can increase susceptibility to infection.

Teachers at Chikuku and Chigonda Primary Schools have explained how these dire circumstances the girl-child finds herself chained in have made most girls miss out on lessons and sporting activities during their monthly periods. Touched by the dire situation in Marange, Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe Trust in partnership with Impakt Trust took the initiative to help Girl-child-green-ambassadors in Marange.

The two organisations donated sanitary pads and panties at Chikuku and Chigonda Primary Schools to humanise and make bearable the menstruation cycles for each girl. Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe Trust went ahead and gave all the recipients trees that they will plant at their homesteads as a way of instilling values of forest management in the girl-child. The two organizations have committed to provide panties, sanitary pads and trees to these girls whenever they can.