So I guess I sent my email to the wrong email address oops :) anyway, i got this response from the Yoani's translator and i thought it was very interesting, tell me what you think!
You have reached Yoani's English translator, not Yoani herself. Her email address is in the sidebar of her website and she does email people back but she doesn't speak English.
However, I do know one way you could help a great deal, particularly since you are a high school student and probably have both a ton of energy and a ton of friends.
Recently Yoani wrote about how difficult it is for women in Cuba to get supplies -- tampons and pads -- for use during their periods. A lot of teenage girls aren't able to go to school on those days because they don't have anything reliable to use.
So a lot of readers responded and said they would like to send "care packages" so I asked Yoani for an address. Below is the address of a woman in Pinar del Rio who could manage the distribution for tons of women and girls... if she got supplies. I think living in Miami you could probably find reliable ways to send supplies -- you could even start with the postal service though I don't know if that would work or not. How cool would it be if the girls in your high school helped out the girls your age in Pinar del Rio by sending a steady stream of supplies to them?! Your moms would probably be happy to help out as well. (And one good thing about tampons and pads is that they weigh almost nothing... and most packages are priced by weight.)
It's just one tangible way to really make a difference, so if you're interested, go for it. I suspect you could also begin corresponding with young women in Pinar del Rio and find out a lot about Cuba from their perspective. When I was there I saw that a lot of the young people are learning English now and they speak it very well.
Best of luck to you and let me know how it goes!
And thanks for your offer!!!
Maria
EMAIL FROM YOANI:
Querida María:
La dirección para enviar las almohadillas sanitarias es la siguiente:
Olga Lopéz Lazo
Calle Sol # 50F entre Recreo y Belascaviedes
Pinar del Río, Cuba
Ella es la persona que se encargará de la distribución.
Abrazos
Yoani
You got a reply! Maybe not from Yoani but still it's a reply. I'm still waiting. hehe
ReplyDeleteBut I didn't realize that girls needed those things in Cuba. It shows how we take so many things for granted. There is no need to worry here about whether we have pads or tampons because they're every where, even in the school nurse's office. But girl's in Cuba can't even go to school if they have their period...it's so awful.
If you decide to send packages to them, I can help out!
http://perezv.wordpress.com
This is so interesting! I agree with Victoria, here we don't even worry about needing pads or tampons. It must be so hard for girls in Cuba. We should definitely get involved and help out!
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool that you at least got an e-mail from someone close to Yoani! I think this must be a common problem for girls who live in 3rd world atmosphere because I have seen a commercial for a company like Always that says a percentage of purchases go to providing pads an tampons for girls in African societies who aren't able to attend school when they have their period. A service project similar to this for Cuban girls would probably be very beneficial and easy to start, especially with a feminist club like FIRE.
ReplyDeleteThats soo cool that you got a response even if its not from yoani. i definitely think we should start a service project that would put together packages that we could send to them so that they don't have to miss school! let me know if you do i would be more than happy to help! -liz
ReplyDeleteI think that's a great way to help out, and it shows people how much we take for granted. I hadn't even thought about it before -- that people could be missing what we consider such basic necessities. Yoani's translator is right -- we have so many resources here, especially a community of friends and family who could help so we could definitely make a difference.:)
ReplyDelete