Covering Africa's Rear
22.05.12
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a piece online that got me completely stumped. It was captioned ‘Knickers for Africa’. Honestly. Apparently, a white Zimbabwean woman returned ‘home’ after many years and was shocked at the state of things in Uncle Bob’s land. She asked around and was told that because Zimbabwean women ran around knickerless and braless, Zimbabwean men could not keep their hands off them and helped themselves to whichever woman caught their fancy. That explained the high rate of rape in the country, apparently. So touched was she by this, that she has dedicated the rest of her natural life to making sure that those natives get lingerie. And as beggars can’t very well be choosers, they would have to be grateful with second-hand knickers from generous Westerners--people so generous that they would literally strip themselves to help the worse off.
As there is no shortage of kindness to strangers in her part of the world, her initiative to cover up Africa was not only successful, it went viral in Europe (if there can be a homogenous ‘Africa’, surely there is a homogenous Europe which includes Australia). People started their own Knickers for Africa parties, organising events where women people could donate their used underwear or, in eco parlance, recycle their underwear. Kill three birds with one stone: clear out their drawers, save the natives, and save the world’s ozone layer. Who could argue with that?
Source: Daily Times Nigeria
