Celebrities back tampon rebels of Zimbabwe

The Sunday Times ^ | May 7, 2006 | Christina Lamb

[F.J. Mitchell]

Remember when ladies were menstruating, they were said to be on the rag?

Here in this first world country, I don't remember my Mother ever possessing a box of koteks much less Tampons, I would have surely have noticed the box.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

This is getting exhausting.

How many times and for how many years do we tolerate these Leftist dictators and have to take care of their victims? One campaign follows another and the root cause is never solved.

Why in the name of he77 do we not just put an end to these dictatorships?

If we're going to be accused of being imperialistic, we may as well imperialize. Most of these rathole nations would be better off for it.

[Minutemen]

Ah, they possesed them but ladies in days past did not leave them out for the whole world to see.

[hinckley buzzard]

Zimbabwe, where cruelty and absurdity go hand in hand.

Indeed. Zimbabwe is a breathtaking documentary waiting to be done. If only there was a film industry still alive somewhere...

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

I agree that this is serious -- one of the many deprivations that Zimbabweans are suffering under. However, there are probably better alternatives. Please read my post # 38. I personally knew several aboriginals who have used sphagnum (peat) moss for diaper liners. They preferred this traditional material to early disposable diapers for several reasons: it prevented diaper rash, it was free, it is very absorbent (today's gel liners are probably more absorbent -- which just means you have to use more moss than gel), it is completely biodegradable, and it was how they and their ancestors did things. I never asked them about use in sanitary napkins (the native women would never have discussed such topics with a man) -- but it was used for that purpose.

After my posting, I did a bit of a Google search and discovered that Johnson & Johnson actually used sphagnum moss in a line of sanitary napkins for a while in the early 1990s.

The watchword for third-world assistance is "appropriate technologies". The point I was trying to make is that it would be far more helpful for the celebrity do-gooders to help develop these appropriate technologies, rather than creating a dependency on a technology that Zimbabwean women cannot afford. There must be some suitable local material, which would provide sanitary protection. E.g., dried seaweed can be used for bandages in survival situations, where there is no peat moss available. http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/wilderness/survival/first.htm#bleeding

[AnnaZ]

Some of us still don't.

[AnnaZ]

I appreciate your sentiments, and the reasoning behind them, but I would prefer to have folks meet us here in the 21st century.

It's bad enough that women have to deal with this every 28 days, need it be even worse? Survival gear is one thing, but peat moss or seaweed on a regular basis? Eeewwww...

[colorado tanker]

Gotta love Hollywood. The brutal dictatorship, the killings, the land thefts, the stolen elections, the food shortages didn't get to them as much as a tampon shortage.

[r9etb]

I suppose these celebrities can't be troubled to back a "Mugabe. Out!" campaign.