Sometimes in life we work hard, prepare for everything to have satisfying results, and expect everything to go perfectly because we tried to do our best. We are shocked when the opposite happens. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has happened with me. (Don’t worry it isn’t so bad.)
After the success we had in the first stage of our breast cancer awareness campaign sessions for women and the great participation by our target group, I expected girls in secondary schools to be interested and excited with our sessions, too. So what happened?
Actually, many of the girls in our target group are very good girls. They want to learn and improve themselves; however, some of them don’t respect anyone. Maybe they are teenagers and don’t think about this disease or feel sympathy for the patients who are suffering. Life for them is just fun, laughs, and good times with friends.
On October 15, we conducted an awareness session in Al-Salam Secondary School for Girls, one of the most famous secondary schools in Sana’a. We planned everything to make the session successful. When the health educator began her presentation some girls started laughing and making noise. The school’s manager stood up and told them to stop. They listened to her but after she left the classroom they started laughing and making noise again. This time they didn’t listen to anyone, not even their teachers. They told them, "If you don’t want to listen please go out and allow others to listen to the session.” Nothing worked. We were very angry and decided to leave. The teachers apologized and promised they would punish the students. Because of the students’ reaction, the health educator said, “How can we do sessions in other schools, Enas? That’s very embarrassing and unacceptable. It’s a waste of time.”
Throughout this sad conversation between the health educator and me, one girl named Shadia stood up and shouted at the other girls. “Please shut up! I had breast cancer two years ago. I had a mastectomy and my doctor told me, ‘If you had detected the disease earlier, you would not have needed to remove your breast. You know why I didn’t detect the disease early? Because I didn’t know that I had breast cancer. When I felt pain in my breast I was too shy to tell anyone, even my mother. Now I know about early detection and everything about breast cancer but after I had removed my breast. It isn’t easy at all. I have had so much pain. You don’t feel what sick people suffer from. You are selfish."
All the girls were surprised. They didn’t know that Shadia had breast cancer and removed her breast. All they knew was that she was sick. No one knew about the breast cancer, not even her teachers and close friends. Shadia couldn’t stop her tears so she left the class with her teacher.
All the girls were shocked. Those who were laughing and annoying didn’t know what to do. After a while, one of them stood up and said, “I am sorry. We apologize to you. We didn’t know it is so serious. It is the first time we have ever talked about breast cancer. Can you repeat the session from the beginning please?"
The health educator started the session over and all the girls participated. All of them wanted to try early detection on the model and on their selves. In addition, the health group in the school plans to host sessions for other classes that couldn’t come.
After we finished, we went to see Shadia and give her our support. We said, “Sweet Shadia, you are stronger than breast cancer. You overcame the disease. You are alive. Why didn’t you make this experience a message of yours in your life? You can make other girls aware of it. Don’t be ashamed. Women and girls will listen to our sessions but, after that, we aren’t sure. They may have forgotten what we said and not use it. But when they listen to you, they will never forget it because nobody can explain the pain except someone who had it and no one can feel what it means to be healthy except someone who has lost it. Shadia, be strong, optimistic, and try to forget the pain. I want to thank you so much for your courage and help.”
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3 comments:
Thank you Shadia for your courage to share your story. Because of your experience, many of your peers will hear the message and hopefully share it with the women in their lives!
Lovely story which illustrates a helpful tip I'd like to share. As a breast surgeon, I'm often asked to give talks to school and college girls. I used to have the same experience with students talking or giggling or playing with their Blackberries while I spoke. I then started taking with me to these talks a couple of local lady breast cancer survivors from the support group that I run. The first time I did this, in a room of 600 young girls, you could hear a pin drop. The survivors who came with me were young women, who'd had cancer, both married with kids. One of them works outside the house as well, the other is a black belt in karate (with a double mastectomy). You know, I can stand up there and talk about breast cancer until I'm blue in the face but the truth is, with the internet, these young women are able to get all this information themselves. By taking these ladies with me, a powerful few messages are passed on - that breast cancer does affect young women like them and that if you do get breast cancer you can get treated and life goes on. This is such an important message in a part of the world were there is so much fear surrounding this disease. A fear mostly because the people they hear about having had breast cancer, probably presented late and many times succumbed to their disease. So in their minds, breast cancer equals death. To see these two young, beautiful and strong women who went through their treatment for breast cancer and live carrying on with their lives as normal. They work, take care of their children and homes and even compete in karate. Nothing I can say is more powerful that that.
Lovely story which illustrates a helpful tip I'd like to share. As a breast surgeon, I'm often asked to give talks to school and college girls. I used to have the same experience with students talking or giggling or playing with their Blackberries while I spoke. I then started taking with me to these talks a couple of local lady breast cancer survivors from the support group that I run. The first time I did this, in a room of 600 young girls, you could hear a pin drop. The survivors who came with me were young women, who'd had cancer, both married with kids. One of them works outside the house as well, the other is a black belt in karate (with a double mastectomy). You know, I can stand up there and talk about breast cancer until I'm blue in the face but the truth is, with the internet, these young women are able to get all this information themselves. By taking these ladies with me, a powerful few messages are passed on - that breast cancer does affect young women like them and that if you do get breast cancer you can get treated and life goes on. This is such an important message in a part of the world were there is so much fear surrounding this disease. A fear mostly because the people they hear about having had breast cancer, probably presented late and many times succumbed to their disease. So in their minds, breast cancer equals death. To see these two young, beautiful and strong women who went through their treatment for breast cancer and live carrying on with their lives as normal. They work, take care of their children and homes and even compete in karate. Nothing I can say is more powerful that that.
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