I work hard but I don’t earn enough money to buy luxury items. So I had to stop using sanitary products and I couldn’t provide my daughter with them either. For over three years we have not been able to buy sanitary pads. The last time I tried to buy them in a shop in Kadoma they said they did not sell them anymore as the suppliers have left Zimbabwe.

 

I was relying on rags which in most cases were not sterilised. This resulted in my having an infection in my vagina which was hard to treat as I could not afford the medication, as it is very expensive. At times I was forced to use toilet paper when it was available, but the chemical used in toilet paper also causes infections. I am grateful to my friend who also had an infection there and she shared her medication with me which has made my infection better. My daughter, Primrose, also had to go without and use rags that I was cleaning. I am so worried that she was also going to get infected like me. She would also be missing lessons because of the heavy flows as she would also use the rags which ended up messing up her school uniform, and would become embarrassed and some of the boys at her school would tease her. We are now sharing the products that I receive and I am much happier that Primrose is safer and her education will not be affected as it was before, she is very clever and wants to be a scientist.

 

I was depressed and very worried about my daughter. Now I am happy and thankful to the Lord for giving us this assistance. I hope that my daughter will get a good job and be able to live in better conditions than we have been. I hope that one day I can buy my own products again like we used to and have some dignity back.