Company joins artistes in fight for women’s rights

Standard Style
ONE of the biggest sanitary pads manufacturers in Zimbabwe, Onsdale Enterprises, which makes the Farai brand of sanitarywear, has made an impassioned plea to government to provide foreign currency for it to import raw materials necessary to adequately meet the sanitary demands of all women in Zimbabwe.

ONE of the biggest sanitary pads manufacturers in Zimbabwe, Onsdale Enterprises, which makes the Farai brand of sanitarywear, has made an impassioned plea to government to provide foreign currency for it to import raw materials necessary to adequately meet the sanitary demands of all women in Zimbabwe.

BY ALBERT MASAKA

The call was made last week at Hellenic Cultural Centre in Harare by a representative of the company, Marvis Mabvisa, who told The Standard Style on the sidelines of the launch of a campaign dubbed Make A Difference with the theme Restore Women’s Dignity meant to amplify International Women’s Day commemorations on March 24.

Several artistes, including Spiderman, came to perform in support of their colleague — local theatre actress and entertainment manager Wadzanai Gumbo, who is also founder of Wadzanai Trust. Gumbo has teamed up with Verna Zisengwe of Heart of a Woman Trust, on a campaign to restore the dignity of incarcerated women and their children.

The campaign Make A Difference has attracted sponsorship from Onsdale Enterprises, which makes the Farai brand of sanitarywear, including toilet paper, among other comfort products.

“Sanitary pads are a basic. It’s a need for every woman who happens to be the backbone of the country. We all came out of a woman, so we appeal as manufacturers of pads to the Ministry of Finance to provide us with forex to import the raw materials. We also want to be considered as a priority to meet every demand of women because not having a pad is like depriving women of their confidence,” Mabvisa said.

18-year-old Spiderman said as a youth president he saw it fit to support the campaign to restore women’s dignity and composed a song befitting the occasion. “I stand out for the youths as the youth president, with my voice, my God-given talent. So, anything that has to do with the youths, I support. I did a song Don’t Cry, meaning that don’t cry when you have no pads; talk to me as the youth president, I stand up for your rights” he said.

Zisengwe said they were happy with the support from sponsors and the public at the groundbreaking ceremony to kickstart their campaign.

“The turnout was good. It shows that people empathise with us and we also thank our sponsors Farai Pads and Peace Security for the support,” she said.

Zisengwe said they had decided to partner each other as they share a common cause of assisting vulnerable women and their children in prisons and would have someone from the ministry of women to address issues that affect women.

Gumbo said women in Zimbabwe over the past years had been subjected to numerous ills and vices of society due to the traditional African set-up.