Sunday, May 24, 2009

A message to HOTmilk and other's......


This a designer of maternity wear that has taken on the cause for providing knickers for Women and girls in Zimbabwe......a great cause for sure but and that is a huge BUT I as well as a lot of other Zimbabwean and African women have a problem with it and I will show you why......here is their write up about what they are doing.....



Doing What We Can to Make a Difference


Sometimes we can take a lot for granted, from the roofs over our heads right down to the fact we own underwear. When we heard that something as simple as undergarments had the possibility of giving young women in Zimbabwe a better chance to live a life free of sexual abuse, we knew that we wanted to help.

HOTmilk is now actively assisting former Zimbabwean Morag Roy, who returned to her home in Australia from a recent trip determined to help the local communities in Zimbabwe in a very unusual way.

Morag discovered that sexual abuse of young girls there was rampant, so she asked a local priest what the girls needed most to prevent it. “He told me that underwear gives a woman women prestige, shows they have money and means men are less likely to assault them. I was amazed but when I flew back six months later with suitcases stuffed with bras I saw first hand what a difference it made.”

During that trip Morag also found that most of the young girls and mothers there only had one ragged pair of knickers each, so they often wore none. “They also desperately need knickers, but I guess a Catholic priest wouldn’t have thought about mentioning that!”

Morag has already done such a great job in gathering thousands of bras for her cause and HOTmilk is delighted to have already donated 6,500 brand new pairs of HOTmilk underwear to her project.

Our regular freight company Express Logistics, were also happy to come to the party by sponsoring the transport of the knickers from New Zealand to Zimbabwe. Thanks Express Logistics! It is great that there are more companies out there who care about others and are willing to do what they can to make a small difference.

And You can help too! The demand is phenomenal and everybody is getting on board. So don't throw out that lingerie set that you no longer require. Take it to your local participating HOTmilk stockist and they will make sure it gets on the next Knickers For Africa shipment to the young women of Zimbabwe.




Are they sending used knickers to Zimbabwe.....?????

If that is the case then I object completely to that......I in fact find it really degrading and insulting to give women and girls who have nothing are at a huge risk of being raped and abused so their confidence and self esteem are very low already and on top of that they are only worth a pair of used knickers from Western women.

Imagine yourself in their situation and in danger of being raped and abused by your men and then some one comes along and see's that a pair of knickers and a bra would make a difference so they give you their used knickers and bra......if you weren't feeling bad about yourself before after that little gesture you certainly would.....


How many of you would go to a charity shop and buy used knickers and bra's.....?????


Just the thought of putting used underwear on to the most treasured and private parts of my body give me the creeps and make me feel cheap and abused......

The questions etc that are being raised by other Zimbabwean and African women are not very nice.....they are asking whether West thinks that just because these women are from Africa they aren't worth very much to the Western women if they can agree to donate used underwear to them......


African women are proud,dignified and the hardest working women I know even in the poorest parts of Africa and deserve to be treated with dignity by the West......

They aren't some sort of pity objects that have to be content with anything that the West ''gives'' them just because they are poor and have nothing......


These are human beings,flesh and blood who have feelings,dreams,hopes and aspirations just like Western women......

There are ways and means that don't cost an arm and a leg to get these women and girls new underwear sowhy would any one want to donate their used underwear to another human being is something that I do not understand.......

Africa is not a dumping ground for the West's used and out of date rubbish and it is about time that they woke up to that fact.....


WE HAVE DIGNITY,PRIDE AND SELF RESPECT ...please don't treat those of us that need a helping hand as anything less than fellow human beings and give us the honor and respect you would to yourselves....

Speak to your factory's etc and get them to help you......get new knickers and bra's from China they are cheap enough.....just please don't dump your used underwear on Zimbabwean women and girls it is very insulting and degrading.......

14 comments:

Wow. That is so wrong. It is unhygienic and degrading, as you say. It is a decent idea for a charity but I wish it had been better thought out.

Thanks for taking time to leave a comment and yeah it is all of those things and more.....

We have to stand up and say NO to this kind of stuff getting into Africa....

My understanding is that although the campaign is called "knickers" for Africa only NEW knickers are being donated. HOTmilk has donated 6500 pairs of NEW underwear already. The bras are pre-loved yes, but they have been through a strict quality check and are generally like new not destined for rubbish piles.

I can see your point too though, but I know HOTmilk have tried to put this together for the right reasons.

Thanks Lou for your comment....and yeah that is the case with Knickers for Africa but not with HOTmilk.....

And really no matter how they attempt to sterilize the knickers and bra's it is still really degrading and insulting.....

I am sure women out there would not want used knickers and bra's for themselves....these items cover our most private parts of our body...

Of course it has been put together with ''good intention's'' just rather thoughtless....

It is a pleasure. I am trying to find out as much about Zimbabwe as possible and try to write about it in one of my own blogs. I am reading "Dinner With Mugabe" at the moment - have oyu heard of it? Would you be interested in doign an interview with me about your life and views in Zim? (Am I right in assuming you moved from Zim to CT?)

Hi Emm.....thanks a lot for the comment....

Dinner With Mugabe should be read by any one that is dealing with Zim...it is a brilliant book and a lot of what she says about Mugabe I have been saying for a long time...

And yeah I left Zimbabwe and ended up in CT...I don't mind at all in doing an interview with you...

I am a supporter of this cause in as much as I will support anyone who is taking steps to make a positive difference in the lives of people less fortunate then themselves, however humble their approach may be. Personally I wouldn't particularly want to wear 2nd hand underwear and im sure the feeling is mutual but fortunately for you and I that is unlikely to be something I'll ever have to worry about - and such is the privilege of all of us tapping on our modern computer keyboards. It obviously needs to be clarified that only preloved bras (not knickers!) are being collected and I know for a fact that all donated garments are thoroughly screened for appropriatness and are thoroughly cleansed. Only brand new knickers are being sent of which literally thousands of new pairs of knickers have already been donated by both HOTmilk Lingerie and supporting lingerie store owners. At the end of the day I suspect the critics of this charity, whatever their motivation, are few and heavily out weighed by what appears the be in the thousands of women getting behind this cause. But hey if you believe the less privileged women of Zimbabwe deserve even more, great! Then put your money where your mouth is and go do something about it too.

you quoted it yourself when you pasted the article "HOTmilk is delighted to have already donated 6,500 brand new pairs of HOTmilk underwear to her project"

HOTmilk have given BRAND NEW pairs of knickers. Gosh 6,500 pairs of knickers must have cost a bomb. And actually getting all the NEW knickers, and preloved-good-condition bras over tehre must have been costly too.

This has been a very popular campagin, and people in our country were very pleased to help out.

Thats great as long as the underwear is new....in their write up they are asking for people to donate their old underwear as well and that is what me and other African women are upset about....

@roland.......when you know nothing about me or about the Zimbabwean women then you can make the sad assumptions that you are.....

There are plenty of Zimbabwean and African women who are really insulted and very angry about the fact that people from the West seem to think it is perfectly normal to give (even after screening etc) African women pre-loved/used bra's and knickers just because they are poor and have nothing....

I am so glad you have a new modern keyboard mine is so old and used that half the keys are bald and guessing what the latter is before I hit it is part of the fun......

As to putting my money where my mouth is .....do you know me well enough and personally and exactly what I do with my money that is if I have any to have the right to tell me what to do with my money.....????

Enough said....

I read about HOTmilk's campaign in a magazine, and thought it would be a good idea (although I am ashamed to admit that I know little about the situation)as I have many bras I have only worn a few times and now no longer fit me, as well as unopened packs of underwear. Am I right in thinking that I shouldn't send these? Is there another campaign I would be better using? Or is this generally a bad idea? Please let me know.

I understand wanting to be respected and valued, but we are talking about preventing rape and abuse here. Isn't wearing gently-used but cleaned/inspected underwear better than possibly being raped? I sometimes purchase new but I have purchased used bras and undergarments at second-hand shops. I don't understand letting pride get in the way of safety. I could understand a few African women feeling this way, but I have a hard time believing the majority of them feel this way. There are Western charities offering our own western women similar gently-worn undergarments. But I understand culture differences exist and it's very unfortunate that some African women have taken this as an insult... that was never the intention.

It is my understanding that this charity was initiated by and continues to run by Africans living in Africa and working directly with the poorer African communities. The 'Westerners' are simply responding to a need as presented and as such are endeavouring to do something/anything they can to support this humble fight against poverty. Surely this is good. Good people are simply trying to do the right thing. It is unfortunate that this makes you angry.

NO used knickers are being sent!! Pre-loved bras are, but personally I have sent some which have never been worn and would certainly not dream of sending any which would be thought of as shabby in any way. I don't think the charity intends to patronise African women but the sad fact is that many cannot afford such basic neccessities and must be helped.

Surely its better for them to wear a neary new bra to stop them being raped than nothing at all! Ive donated almost new bras and cant afford to donate money. Thank god I dont live in that society but I would rather wear a second hand bra than get raped. I think anything that can be done is a good thing dont critise. What are you doing for charity?!

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