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Flora Fadzai Sibanda
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IT was all glitz and glamour at the Bulawayo Club on Thursday evening as dozens of people gathered for a red carpet pad drive fundraising dinner.

Dubbed “restoring the dignity of a girl child”, the dinner was hosted by Girl Talk Zimbabwe in partnership with Aqua Manzi and its aim was to get pads that can be donated to vulnerable children in remote areas.

Unlike the common pad drives where people just drop their donations at a specified place, the hosts decided to go all out and create something intimate, yet classy which will remind the attendees how important it is to host such pad drives.

Ladies in long trail and shiny dresses were the order of the day and each came carrying their own packets of pads. However, instead of the event being filled with women as that is what everyone would expect, men also broke the stereotype and came to the event all dressed up and ready to drive the pad collection needed for the vulnerable girl children.

The event had a lot of speakers, especially women sharing stories about how not having pads affects a lot of girls in communities. They shared the medical implications that can affect a girl if she were to not have proper sanitary pads.

The founder of Girl Talk Zimbabwe, Anitta Nesh said it is her dream to end poverty in vulnerable communities, especially those in rural areas.

She said she held the event on Africa Day because it was also a gentle reminder to everyone that together, the community is able to end pad poverty and make life more bearable for the girl child.

“This is the second edition. Last year, we managed to donate to Nkayi and we’re hoping that this year, we’ll be able to donate to more communities. Coming from a humble background made me have the drive and heart to host this drive because I don’t want any girl child to ever go through not having pads and suffering every month because of her menstrual cycle,” said Anitta Nesh.

One of the guests poses for a picture with the pads donated

The founder of Aqua Manzi, Victoria Gazi said she decided to partner with Girl Talk after attending last year’s edition and saw how much of an impact it had as they managed to get many pads.
Gazi said the issue of sanitary pads is very sensitive to many women, especially those with little girls because many  stories are always shared about how girls suffer because they do not have sanitary pads.

She said the pad drive had been a success as they had managed to get the pads and funds to get more which shows how much people are willing to help the vulnerable girls and women.

“One might think that it’s not much, but just one packet means a lot to a child who has no money to buy her own pack. Sanitary pads are very important and I hope people can prioritise them, especially for those little girls who are in the remote areas,” she said. – @flora_sibanda