Dinner serves up opportunity for sisters to speak for themselves
An Upturn supported event has been described as, “the most open conversation ever seen on Asian women’s health in Oldham.”
Conceived as a breast cancer charity dinner to pay for 1000 mammograms to be carried out from mobile clinics, the night turned into a forum to discuss embarrassment around gynaecology and the need to organise flexible screening appointments for women with large families.
Much of the debate was prompted by a speech by Oldham health campaigner Dr Anita Sharma, while emotions became charged when a Manchester woman relayed her first-hand account of keeping her cancer secret for THREE YEARS.
Amina (not her real name) was so concerned that her family would think a diagnosis of breast cancer would mean certain death, she attended 19 radiotherapy appointments by herself. And she made sure these sessions were in the morning, so that she could still work and look after her children.
What saved Amina from the worst, was an early diagnosis. “Breast cancer is in my family and my auntie passed away from it” she revealed to over 50 guests at the Blue Tiffin restaurant. “The diagnosis is terrifying, but I was determined to be strong, keep busy and not worry my family, who I only told after I had my final operation”
Amina has now been cancer-free for three years – a fact which drove cheers from gripped guests.
Described as “formidable” by organisers the Henna Foundation, Dr Anita Sharma then encouraged women to be mighty and support each other with their health. “In England, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime with over 55,000 new cases annually. But, for various reasons, South Asian women are 30% less likely to attend screening appointments” said the founder of the Endometriosis Awareness North campaign.
“I will be asking the NHS for more flexible appointments for women who cannot simply get in their car and turn up at any time. They may not have great English either, and I am urging the NHS to ensure information and materials are printed in many diverse languages.”
Aside from local speakers, the audience heard from the Head of the Henna Foundation, Henna Chowdhury, who have completed a huge amount of work in South Asia and Britain, to improve health and give women a voice in their care.
Joining via a live-link, Henna said: “This is an unbelievable gathering of South Asian women, and the lack of embarrassment and stigma is so refreshing. When we began our work we could not even use the term, “breast cancer” and instead called it pink ribbon work!
Our aim is to bring screening to places where resources are poor and medical expertise scarce and make societies here and across Asia take more notice of our sister’s needs.”
One of Henna’s first projects is to send doctors and nurses to Bangladesh next January to visit factories, aid health carers and meet people from the Sylhet area, from where many of the British Bangladeshi community emanate.
Learn more about the Henna Foundation, at https://hennafoundation.org.<wbr></wbr>uk/
The Breast Cancer Awareness Charity Dinner is supported by award-winning Oldham social enterprise Upturn, Doctors Worldwide, the Henna Foundation, Amana, AKIJ Insaf and the Ayaan Foundation.
