Two social
activists from Macedonia and Turkey show that lots of willpower and a little
new age savviness go a long way in raising cancer awareness writes Karthik
Shankar.
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| Image Courtesy: Feza and Biba |
Biba Dodeva and Feza
Sengel could not be more different. Biba with her radiant and the youthful
appearance looks every inch the celebrity that she is. Feza’s sharp stately
features on the other hand, seem more in line with the world of academia. The
two are also separated by thousands of miles; Biba being from Macedonia and Feza
from Turkey. They are however united by a common cause – the fight against
cancer.
Biba, a famous
television singer in her country seems like an unlikely candidate to inspire a
social movement across her country but that’s what the exuberant activist did
when she founded Borka in 2007. She explains that she took up cancer awareness
due to personal reasons. “I have lost dear friends from cancer. Moreover my
mother has been undergoing cancer treatments for the last eight years. I
started Borka because there was a lack of cancer related organisations in
Macedonia.
Feza also has a deeper
connection to cancer, having lost her mother to the disease during childhood.
With a long career in Public Relations for NGOs, she finally joined The Breast
Cancer Foundation, Turkey in 2006 taking up the role of Corporation
Communications director and project manager. “We are the only breast cancer
foundation in Turkey. We are raising awareness through PR and education
projects” she says.
Biba admits that initially
she didn’t know much about cancer. “I’m a local celebrity, so I thought I could
do something more to highlight this issue. People are more likely to listen to
me than oncologists because they are interested in what I am doing.”
Feza espouses corporate
techniques to promote social causes. “Look at a brand like Coca Cola Coca. It
has sales and a marketing strategy. So if you want to promote cancer awareness,
prevention and screening, you need money, strategy, and a plan. That’s how we
were able to make people listen to us.”
She is encouraged by
the reputation her organisation has built up. “We have been supported by US
State department. Now we found corporate social responsibility funding. We have
reached 23,000 euros with his project. We are working with ministry of health,
celebrities, press, TV. She says that the journey has not been easy however.
“People didn’t want to hear about cancer and no company wanted their brands
involved with it, but we made a change. When I look back, it was tough work. We
are still working very hard but now they are knocking on our door. For
sustainability, brands must support communities and NGOs. Now they understand
it is not about cancer. We are dealing with women trying to stay healthy.
Biba is also proud of
her organisation’s growth. “We are one of the biggest in Macedonia. Our
organisation covers all types of cancer. After all these years, I can say we
are on the right road. We have close to 10,000 supporters. They are not just
cancer survivors but even young students, both male and female.
When asked if their
efforts have been codified into laws, Biba points out that several initiatives
of Borka have been very successful. “Since 2008, we got all therapies in
Macedonia. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are free of charge if it is malignant.
We also achieved cervical cancer screening and we have HPV vaccine on our
positive list for immunisation. Last year the whole month of March was
Colorectal Cancer awareness March. The FOBT (Faecal Occult Blood Test) was free
for everyone in Macedonia.”
Feza says that one of
the unique achievements of her organisation is the ‘breast health peer
education program’. “It’s a very unique program. We train radiology and
emergency nursing unit students as volunteers just before they graduate so that
they can go to normal state run schools and carry out awareness programs for
students from the ninth to the twelfth grade. It is simply information such as
risk factors, early detection and how to care of your breasts; information that
every girl and woman should know.
However she is bothered
by Turkey’s incidences of breast cancer. “Cancer is not an old age woman
illness in Turkey. Younger girls get cancer. In Europe 3-5% of breast cancer
patients are below 40 but in Turkey it is 17%. Now things are changing and girls
are getting married over 30 but they have to be educated in preventive
healthcare. Moreover mammography is not upto EU standards.
Biba agrees. “We want
to change the mentality of women because they are taking care of families,
house and last they take care of themselves.”
Feza revealed that in
Turkey, women are frightened of cancer. “However, fear is the friend of cancer
and it aids education.”
The two women show no
signs of slowing down their advocacy. As Biba surmises, “We still have a lot of
work left to do.”
To
find out more about Feza and Biba and their work, feel free to look through the
following links:
Karthik
Shankar is a journalism student from Chennai. He currently freelances for Times
of India. In addition to contributing to The Red Elephant Foundation, Karthik
has also been part of the daily newsletter production team for 2013 edition of
the Chennai Film Festival. He was also a
live blogger for Lit for Life 2014, the literary festival by The Hindu. Karthik
is an avid reader and counts Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo and Ursula Le Guin as his
favourite novelists. Karthik can be contacted at karthik.psshankar@gmail.com
