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German envoy lauds cancer fight initiative

 

The German Ambassador  Jurgen Bosch has hailed an initiative to establish a wellness centre and a foundation which will spearhead the fight against cancer by providing information and services.

The continuous awareness about cancer started on Saturday in Lilongwe during an aerobics event, Step Up for Cancer, held at Umodzi Park.

The wellness centre and Hope for Cancer Foundation are initiatives of two-time breast cancer survivor and former Miss Malawi Blandina Khondowe.

Bosch (in blue top) and other participants during the aerobics

A few years ago, Khondowe started the Think Pink Malawi initiative to raise awareness about cancer whose activities were taking place in October every year.

Bosch hailed Khondowe for leading by example and showing that cancer could be beaten if people came together.

“This is a great initiative and it is even more commendable that from once a year, it has come to this. What we can learn today is that together we are unbeatable. There is hope for cancer and we have to fight it together,” he said.

On her part, Khondowe said after her second diagnosis and having to seek treatment outside Malawi for the second time, she decided to intensify the fight against cancer through the establishment of a wellness centre and the foundation.

“I had to seek treatment outside Malawi again after my re-diagnosis last year simply because some of the facilities were not available locally. It has been my dream to establish a wellness centre which will be a one -stop centre for the management of cancer as well as all those who would like assistance in good nutrition and fitness as one way of fighting cancer,” Khondowe said.

The initiative received a donation of K1 million from TNM towards the establishment of the wellness centre.

Step Up for Cancer will be a monthly initiative and the next one is slated for April 14 at the same venue.

Umodzi Park sales and marketing manager Temwa Kanjadza said the company decided to sponsor the event knowing that cancer is affecting so many sectors of the country.

“We would like to show that we are not just a business but we work with the community as well. We partnered with Hope for Cancer Foundation and we plan that this will be an ongoing event. The turn up shows that Malawians are becoming health conscious,” she said. n

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