Miriam Mashego* is down to her last two packs of sanitary pads.
Mashego – a fourth-year student – is part of the group of 1 211 South African students studying medicine in Cuba as part of the Nelson Mandela/Fidel Castro Medical Collaboration Programme.
The students find themselves at the heart of the repercussions of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, as the country contends with heightened shortages of basic goods while queues snake outside grocery retailers, exacerbated largely by the US trade sanctions against Cuba.