Students Seek Funds To Send 800 Pounds Of Condoms To South Africa

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY - For the past week, Erin Blake '06 has been driving a car full of condoms — 800 pounds of condoms, to be precise.
After Blake requested a small donation for the Student Global AIDS Campaign, the companies contacted contributed a half-ton crate of condoms and pregnancy tests.
"It's a really bizarre situation," Blake said. "I am very grateful for the generous donation, but it's a little too generous."
A campaign to send toiletry items to a women's health clinic in Khayelitsha, South Africa, was initiated this past fall by SGAC advocacy chair Hahna Fridirici '06. Supplies are shipped in small boxes to Princeton students studying at the University of Cape Town, who then send them to the clinic to be distributed.
Last November, Blake contacted two different pharmaceutical companies — both of which she has requested remain anonymous — asking them to donate "a few small shipments" of condoms for the drive.
Blake said she mentioned that the donations would be shipped in small boxes but did not ask for an exact quantity. One of the companies, for which her father works, sent a moderate amount of samples, and a representative from the other company told her he would send a pallet of supplies.
"He never told me one pallet is 800 pounds," Blake said. "I guess I should have been more specific."
She said she expected to receive about 500 condoms but estimates she now has hundreds of thousands.
At the time, the company told Blake the shipment's size exceeded that of a P.O. box, so she arranged to pick it up at the building in Princeton where she works. When Blake went to sign for the shipment this past week, however, she learned it could no longer be sent back to the pharmaceutical company once it had left the warehouse and would require heavy lifting equipment to transfer into her car.
The large cardboard box was then sent back to a Federal Express office in North Brunswick, where employees could help her transfer the supplies. Because the pallet was too big to fit in the car, Blake and the men emptied about half of the box into plastic bags, cut the top half of the box off and then used a forklift to transfer the remainders of the box into the car.
Blake said that, as she was repackaging the condoms and pregnancy tests to fit into her Honda CR-V, the FedEx men repeatedly asked to come to her "wild party."
"I kept trying to convince them that the condoms were not all for me," Blake said.
Since then, she said truckers have honked as she drove past them, and students have made personal requests for condoms.
But getting rid of the supply is complicated. Because the donation is so large, Fridirici said the SGAC is hoping to find sponsors willing to pay for the shipment. Currently, Fridirici said the SGAC still plans to direct the entire 800-pound supply to the South African clinic, but it is considering other local distributors like the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey if additional funding is not provided.
"It would be ridiculous to imagine that gender-power dynamics, poverty and HIV/AIDS do not feed into each other here in our own backyard," Fridirici said. "The SGAC and its members have always strove to meaningfully engage with the struggle against HIV/AIDS in New Jersey and the United States, and this huge and unexpected donation is another opportunity to do just that."
There may also be legal complications in redirecting a charitable contribution from its original destination. Before Blake can redistribute the supplies to a different organization, Fridirici said the SGAC will pursue further clarification from the condom donors.
"It appears [the company] has left us free to use the condoms as we see fit," Fridirici said. "If we are unable to find funding to get all the condoms over to [South Africa], we are free to distribute the condoms in conjunction with SGAC awareness events."
Blake said the donation may take a long time to be distributed, but she said she wants to make sure it is directed to a population that really needs the supplies.
In the meantime, Blake said she is concerned that the condoms might be damaged by remaining in her car amid changing temperatures.
She said, though, that she is not particularly embarrassed by her condom-packed car. Despite the fact that she can barely squeeze into the driver's seat, she said she thinks the whole situation is "pretty hilarious."
"If I have learned anything, it is to be more specific when asking for favors," Blake said. "Most of the time you ask for something, you probably won't get it. But sometimes you'll get more than you can handle."
from The Daily Princetonian